U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) leaves the U.S. Senate chamber and walks back to the House of Representatives side of the Capitol with colleagues after watching the failure of both competing Republican and Democratic proposals to end the partial government shutdown in back to back votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reportedly apologized for her AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) tweet in a Feb. 19 phone call with several Jewish groups, which included the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
According to the Times of Israel, Omar told the Jewish groups – including the ADL, Americans for Peace Now, Bend the Arc, HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and the Jewish Democratic Council of America – during the confidential call that she is apologizing again “for any actual hurt my words have caused.”
“I know there are a lot of people who in the last weeks have expressed support in trying to say this isn’t anti-Semitic or this shouldn’t be looked at in that way,” Omar said.
She added that Jews need to have a consensus definition of anti-Semitism since she doesn’t want to provide anyone who wants to downplay “the hurt” with the time of day.
Omar also reportedly pledged to meet with each of the groups in person in the call.
The congresswoman, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was apologizing for her Feb. 10 tweets accusing AIPAC of buying off politicians to support Israel. She released a statement the next day saying that she was still in the process of learning anti-Semitic tropes.
The most commonly used definition of anti-Semitism is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition, which includes the demonization and de-legitimization of Israel as among the modern forms of anti-Semitism.
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