WASHINGTON – Texans distanced themselves after the leader of a large progressive bloc in Congress called Israel a “racist state” ahead of a Wednesday address by Israel’s president.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, drew international condemnation after her comment last weekend.
“I absolutely would never, ever characterize one country as being completely racist,” Dallas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a freshman Democrat who is part of the progressive caucus, said Tuesday. “There may be people that want to call our entire country racist, which I think would be wrong. I’m here and I am not that… We have a majority that is doing things that is oppressive to people, but don’t characterize my entire country that way.”
The House Republican majority pushed through a resolution Tuesday night that indirectly repudiated Jayapal, authored by Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo.
The resolution did not condemn her or explicitly refer to her comments. It did affirm that “Israel is not a racist or apartheid state,” adding that “Congress rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia” and that “the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel.”
The House overwhelmingly approved the resolution, 412-9. All nine ‘no’ votes came from Democrats, none from Texas.
Israel’s head of state, President Isaac Hertzog, will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
“It’s not a good idea anytime you go down that road,” Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Pilot Point, said of Jayapal’s comments.
Jayapal herself voted for the resolution.
So did freshman Rep. Greg Casar of Austin — whip of the progressive caucus, the No. 3 leadership post in a group that includes more than 100 Democratic lawmakers.
“She herself said that she chose her words incorrectly,” he said. “She’s been a defender of human rights around the world. …We should be able to critique the actions of the government in Israel… while recognizing that there are very good people there that have been trying to fight for human rights.”
But he said, “People in Bibi Netanyahu’s government have oppressed people. That is what Chairwoman Jayapal was trying to say. And now we see Republican opportunists trying to twist her words.”
Jayapal made the incendiary comment Saturday, trying to quell pro-Palestinian protesters at a Netroots Nation convention in Chicago.
“We have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away,” she said.
She sought to walk back the comment on Sunday.
“I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” her statement read. “I do, however, believe that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies” and that his government includes “extreme racists driving that policy.”
At the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that “the apology was the right thing to do… When Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hate, that’s antisemitism, and that is unacceptable.”
Crockett saw no threat to Jayapal’s ability to lead the caucus.
“People can misspeak. It would be different if she doubled down,” she said, adding that “if the leading candidate for the Republicans [Donald Trump] can be a twice impeached, multi-indicted person, she can probably hold her spot for something that she at least walked back.”
