Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives on Wednesday that condemns “anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred” globally.
The resolution, which was sponsored by Zeldin and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.), highlights a few of Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic statements, including that Jews are “Satanic” and calling Adolf Hitler “a very great man.”
“Activist Tamika Mallory called Minister Louis Farrakhan the ‘‘greatest of all time’’, and her fellow organizer, Linda Sarsour said, ‘Only Jews . . . are ones that condone violence against Arabs and are cool with mosques being attacked,’” the resolution states.
It went on to add that “current Members of Congress have met with, posed for pictures with, and have otherwise embraced Farrakhan.”
The resolution proceeded to call out Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The resolution also called into question Tlaib’s association with a Hezbollah supporter and called out Omar for accusing Israel of hypnotizing the world. Omar recently said she “unknowingly” used the anti-Semitic trope.
The resolution also argued that the BDS movement has been detrimental toward Jewish students on college campuses.
“As a result of the BDS movement, Jewish students on college campuses across America have been exposed to rampant anti-Semitism,” the resolution states. “For example, at New York University, after the student government passed a resolution supporting BDS, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life was temporarily closed in response to threatening Twitter posts by a student who expressed ‘a desire for Zionists to die.’”
The resolution also denounced the neo-Nazi riots in Charlottesville in August 2017, noting how the “extremist demonstration turned violent when a neo-Nazi sympathizer drove a vehicle into a crowd, which resulted in the death of one peaceful demonstrator, and two Virginia State police officers died in the line of duty that day.” Robert Bowers, who is accused of murdering 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October, was also condemned in the resolution.
“Whereas contemporary examples of anti-Semitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere include denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the House of Representatives rejects anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred in the United States and around the world,” the resolution concludes.
As Farrakhan, etc spew anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate, many Reps. have embraced/echoed them. Last week, the House voted to reject White Supremacy. We should also pass my new Reso rejecting anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hate infiltrating US politics & Congress:
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) January 23, 2019
On Jan. 15, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution introduced by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) condemning white nationalism by a margin of 424-1 in response to Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) telling The New York Times, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King voted in favor of the resolution.
The lone congressman who voted against the resolution was Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), stating that he wouldn’t vote for any resolution that didn’t censure King.
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