This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Democratic representative Ilhan Omar has come under a fresh round of criticism for remarks about Israel that critics say are antisemitic.

'I know what intolerance looks like': Ilhan Omar takes her turn in the spotlight Read more

Speaking on Wednesday night at a forum at a Washington DC bookstore with fellow freshman representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the Minnesota Democrat said she fears everything they say about Israel is construed as antisemitic because they are Muslim. She said that prevents a “broader debate” about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Omar and Tlaib won their seats in November, becoming the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

The comments, which Omar made when the questions turned to her previous criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, were first reported by the website Jewish Insider.

Some Jewish leaders said she then revived an old trope about divided loyalties among Jewish Americans when she said: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

Omar added: “I want to ask, ‘Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the [National Rifle Association], or fossil fuel industries or big pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy?”’

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement he was appalled by Omar’s suggestion that Jewish Americans have divided loyalties between the US and Israel.

Her comment, Hunegs said, “continues the unacceptable pattern of the congresswoman deploying antisemitic rhetoric when speaking about Jewish-Americans’ involvement in our nation’s democratic process”.

Omar ignited a bipartisan uproar in Washington and at home in Minnesota last month when she suggested on Twitter that members of Congress support Israel for money.

Many Jewish leaders denounced her remarks as reviving old stereotypes about Jews, money and power. She apologized and said: “Antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes.”

Many progressive Jews rushed to her defense, however, saying it is not inherently antisemitic to criticize Israeli government policies or Aipac, a leading pro-Israel lobbying group.

Omar’s spokesman, Jeremy Slevin, said on Friday she reiterated at Wednesday’s event “the remorse she feels for her comments last month – and the pain she knows they caused. As she said in her apology, we must distinguish between criticism of a particular faith and fair critiques of lobbying groups.”

He added that she has “consistently spoken out about the undue influence of lobbying groups for foreign interests of all kinds”.

Hunegs said he met Omar last week and found her new comments “particularly insulting” because he had showed her a photo of the grave of his cousin who died in France fighting for the US in the second world war, in order to “illustrate the proud patriotism” of Jewish-Americans.

“Our community is exasperated by Representative Omar’s unfulfilled promises to listen and learn from Jewish constituents while seemingly simultaneously finding another opportunity to make an antisemitic remark and insult our community,” Hunegs said.

Aipac tweeted: “The charge of dual loyalty not only raises the ominous specter of classic antisemitism, but it is also deeply insulting to the millions upon millions of patriotic Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish, who stand by our democratic ally, Israel.”