A pro-Palestinian member of Congress is upset that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) harshly criticized her positions on Israel, calling them a “hate group” following the publication of an ad on Facebook.
Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat, has become one of Israel’s strongest critics. She also claims to be “pro-Israel.” She has introduced a bill that would prohibit any U.S. military aid to Israel from being used to detain children. She voted against the resolution condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments about Jews running the U.S. She voted against the anti-BDS resolution in the House last year.
AIPAC said in the ad that McCollum and other pro-Palestinian members of Congress pose a threat “more sinister than ISIS.” Was that “over the top”?
“AIPAC claims to be a bipartisan organization, but its use of hate speech actually makes it a hate group,” U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat, said Wednesday in a statement. “By weaponizing anti-Semitism and hate to silence debate, AIPAC is taunting Democrats and mocking our core values.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee declined to comment. The lobby removed and apologized last week for at least two Facebook ads that slammed “radical” Democrats in Congress, and altered an online petition that said Israel’s harshest critics in Congress pose a threat “maybe more sinister” than ISIS and other terror groups.
“This is not a call to action, it is incitement,” McCollum said. “Elected representatives in Congress ‘more sinister’ than ISIS? Last year, I met with AIPAC representatives from Minnesota in my office. Do forces ‘more sinister’ than ISIS sit down and meet with AIPAC’s advocates?”
AIPAC said the ad was poorly worded” and “inflammatory,” which is certainly true. But how much more inflammatory was it than voting to strangle the Jewish state with boycotts and divestment? AIPAC said the ad “alluded to a genuine concern of many pro-Israel Democrats about a small but growing group, in and out of Congress, that is deliberately working to erode the bipartisan consensus.”
In today’s politics, the only way to be heard is to throw a bigger bomb than your opponent. McCollum is no more a threat to Israel than my pet cat Snowball. She’s ignorant. She’s dumb. She’s misguided. But to hint that she’s as big a threat to Israel as ISIS is absurd on its face.
It’s true that Israel detains thousands of children — children who are a key cog in the Hamas terrorist machine. They not only are recruited for suicide bombings, but they act as lookouts for Hamas and are on the front lines of every Palestinian protest, knowing the bad publicity that will follow any harm that comes to them.
The Palestinians have weaponized their children. They have brainwashed them, propagandized them, and then used them as pawns in their deadly games with the Israeli government. It doesn’t help when well-meaning, but ignorant members of Congress can only see one side of the conflict.
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