Posted on 07/16/23
| News Source: Arutz-7
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Sunday walked back comments in which she declared that Israel is a racist state, saying her comments were directed specifically towards the current government, Haaretz reported.
Jayapal's statement, which comes on the eve of President Isaac Herzog's visit to the US, comes after hours of widespread condemnation of her remarks from pro-Israel organizations and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal attempts to appease so-called "Free Palestine" protesters after they hijacked a leftist conference: "We have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state!" pic.twitter.com/9p2aX6uh4F
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"I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist. I do, however, believe that Netanyahu's extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government," clarified Jayapal.
She claimed that her comments were made while attempting to defuse tension between protesters and fellow members of Congress on stage as a progressive activist panel and added she believes "it is incumbent on all of us who are striving to make our world a more just and equitable place to call out and condemn these policies and this current Netanyahu government's role in furthering them."
"I have always worked toward a two-state solution that allows both Israelis and Palestinians to live freely, safely and with self-determination alongside each other and that is still what I am absolutely committed to," said Jayapal, adding that current Israeli policies such as “settlement expansion” make it "extremely difficult" for Palestinian Arabs to believe in the possibility of a two-state solution.
Jayapal's statement came after several Jewish Democrats — including Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Greg Landsman, Brad Schneider, Dean Phillips, Jared Moskowitz and Kathy Manning — circulated a statement expressing "deep concern" over her remarks.
"Regardless of extremists views from groups aligned with either party, efforts to rewrite history and question the Jewish State's right to exist, or our historic bipartisan relationship, will never succeed in Congress," the statement reads, according to Haaretz, adding that "we will never allow anti-Zionist voices that embolden antisemitism to hijack the Democratic Party and country."
Jayapal has in the past come under fire for tweeting a remembrance for the victims of 9/11 with a death toll that included the terrorists.