(HorizonPost.com) – Last Tuesday, the House overwhelmingly approved a resolution reaffirming support for Israel and condemning antisemitism just days after progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal was forced to apologize for referring to Israel as a “racist state,” NBC News reported.
The resolution passed 412 to 9 with 195 Democrats joining their Republican colleagues.
The nine Democrats who voted against the nonbinding resolution included Squad members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Rashida Tlabi.
In response to the vote, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley tweeted the list of the nine progressive Democrats who voted against the resolution, saying, “We’re taking names.” Haley accused the nine lawmakers of believing that “Israel is racist” and vowed to “remember this vote.”
In response, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at Haley, sarcastically tweeting, “Oooh, a list!” The Progressive Squad member added that Haley’s list could be called “People in Congress who think apartheid is wrong” or “who don’t ignore human rights abuses against Palestinians.”
The GOP candidate hit back, asking Ocasio-Cortez why Israel gets under her skin. Haley asked if Ocasio-Cortez objects to Israel “because it’s democratic, pro-American, or Jewish.” She noted the congresswoman ignores the human rights abuses in China, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela and suggested that she “would fit in great with the anti-Semites at the United Nations.”
The House resolution was prompted by Jayapal’s recent comments at the Netroots Nation conference in Chicago.
After being interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, Jayapal said she has been “fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state.”
After she was condemned by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, Jayapal issued a statement on Twitter claiming that she was trying to “defuse a tense situation.”
She clarified her remarks explaining that she does not believe Israel as a nation is racist. Instead, she believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extreme right-wing government” has “outright racist policies.”
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