Schumer takes apparent swipe at Omar in AIPAC speech

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) became the latest of several lawmakers to take an apparent swipe at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in a speech at a pro-Israel conference Monday, while calling for leaders to call out anti-Semitism. 

In his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference, Schumer drew a parallel between Omar’s remarks in February that she wanted “to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country” and President Trump’s remarks following a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017.

{mosads}”When someone says that being Jewish and supporting Israel means you’re not loyal to America, we must call it out. When someone looks at a neo-Nazi rally and sees some ‘very fine people’ among its company, we must call it out,” Schumer said in his address, according to Fox News.

He also referenced as an example accusations that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) tweet suggesting George Soros was trying to buy an election was anti-Semitic.

“When someone names only prominent Jews as trying to ‘buy’ or ‘steal’ our elections, we must call it out,” Schumer said.

Schumer also alluded to an earlier controversy involving Omar, who said in a now-deleted tweet that politicians’ support of AIPAC was “all about the Benjamins.”

“When someone suggests that money drives support for Israel, we must call it out,” Schumer said. “You can be a Jew and care about Israel and it doesn’t make you any less of an American. You can be a Jew and lobby for Israel and it doesn’t make you any less of an American.”

Numerous other conference speakers from both parties have taken apparent shots at Omar without mentioning her by name. On Monday, Vice President Pence said “anyone who slanders those who support this historic alliance between the United States and Israel should never have a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives,” referencing the committee to which Omar has been assigned.

Following Omar’s controversial tweets, President Trump in February called on the freshman lawmaker to resign or be barred from serving on the committee.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) at AIPAC also called out “charges of dual loyalty” in his remarks to the conference.

Schumer’s comments came at the end of the day Monday, hours after Trump signed a proclamation officially granting U.S. recognition of Israel’s claim over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of American policy regarding the disputed territory between Israel and Syria.

-Updated 1 p.m.