Wiesenthal Center, Citing Her Late Father’s Activism, Urges Speaker Pelosi To Denounce Anti-Israel And Anti-Semitic Declarations By Two Freshman Congresswomen

January 18, 2019

In a letter to Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi, leaders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO, have expressed their deep disappointment and anger over extreme anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements made by two freshman Congresswomen. 

The January 18^th letter, referred to Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) opposition to legislation to combat the anti-Israel Boycott (BDS) movement when she cynically alleged ‘dual loyalty’ screed, historically a dog whistle for anti-Semites.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who also endorses BDS, defended her earlier tweet calling Israel “evil” and said she couldn’t understand why American Jews would be upset.

Tlaib also now endorses a “One State Solution” in the Holy Land.

Wiesenthal Center founder and Dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s associate dean and director of Global Social Action, reminded Speaker Pelosi of her late father Congressman Thomas D’Alesandro Jr.’s courageous efforts during WWII to force President Roosevelt to do more to save the Jews of Europe being massacred by the Nazis and his early support for a Jewish State.

“Congressperson Tlaib has every right to be proud that she came to this country as a refugee and has every right to advocate for the rights of Palestinians,” Hier and Cooper wrote.

“But Speaker Pelosi, as the leader of the Democratic Party, you should make clear that a one-state solution is a code word for the destruction of the Israel-home to the world’s largest Jewish population—and violates everything you and your father have spent your lives defending,” the Rabbis concluded.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. Join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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