As protestors chanted outside, Rep Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) inspired a crowd inside in Los Angeles at a Council of American-Islamic Relations fundraiser.
“The irony in that is very entertaining to me,” said Omar speaking about the protestors. “I don’t think many of them realize that people like myself, and many of the people in this room, could care less about what they have to say, because we know who we are, and where we belong, and what we stand for,” she said, according to Newsweek.
Omar sparked controversy when she tweeted about US financial support for Israel saying “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” To many, that resurrected stereotypes of Jews as rich bankers. She would later apologize saying “anti-semitism is real.”
KABC reports dozens of demonstrators marched outside the CAIR event accusing her of bigotry. Omar blamed the president.
“The reason I think that many of us knew that this was going to get worse is that we finally had a leader in the White House who publicly says Islam hates us, who fuels hate against Muslims, who thinks it is okay to speak about a faith and a whole community in a way that is dehumanizing, vilifying,” she said.
All this is happening under the backdrop of another event getting underway today- the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. Many Democratic presidential contenders are skipping the conference, including Sens. Bernie Sanders(I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-CA.), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrant (D-NY) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN.); former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX); South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, according to The Hill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) are planning to attend and hope to ease the lingering tensions.
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RE: Rep Ilham Omar Defies Protestors: When she spoke about ‘the Benjamines’ it was referring not to Jews but to our mostly Anglo-Saxon congress people who get mega bucks from AIPAC. Twist twist by rump and his buddy right-wingers. They are pathetic. Rump is so inappropriate.