Dem congressman calls out progressives' 'deafening' silence on anti-Semitic attacks

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A Democratic congressman from Minnesota has called out the progressive wing of his party for what he says is their “deafening” silence on the rising anti-Semitic attacks in America.

Rep. Dean Phillips, whose district covers the western suburbs of the Twin Cities including Bloomington, Eden Prairie and Edina, put his progressive colleagues on notice in a Monday tweet. The two-term congressman eviscerated the progressives for not putting as much gusto behind condemning anti-Semitism as they have other progressive priorities.

Members of the “Squad” — the group of progressive Democrats led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — spoke out against the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the U.S. over the weekend, though some critics suggested that the lawmakers bear responsibility for inflaming anti-Jewish sentiments. 

The lawmakers were torched by users online, who brought up the “Squad” members’ previous tweets that had referred to Israel as an “Apartheid” state and accused the Middle Eastern democracy of engaging in ethnic cleansing.

“While anti-Zionist gangs beat up Jews in her city, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was providing a quasi-intellectual basis for their actions, defaming Israel as an apartheid state employing indiscriminate force in what she seems to think is a capricious quest to murder as many Palestinian children as possible, instead of a highly restrained military operation tightly targeted on terrorists,” The American Jewish Committee global director of young leadership Seffi Kogan wrote.

Kogan added that Ocasio-Cortez “didn’t call for violence, but she carved out an area of respectability for a certain type of anti-Semitism, and others were only too happy to rush in, fists flying.”

Ocasio-Cortez and several members of the small, unofficial caucus spoke out against anti-Semitism outright while others, such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., mentioned anti-Semitism alongside Islamophobia or couching statements against anti-Semitism with critiques against Israel.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

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