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Democrats Brush Off Rep. Omar's Push for Israel Boycott, Target BDS Movement Instead

(Washington Times) Gabriella Munoz - Jewish Democrats brushed off Rep. Ilhan Omar's Israel boycott resolution this week and instead kept their focus on their own resolution to denounce the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Cal.) told the Washington Times that Omar's resolution was "dead on arrival." He said, "What I regret most is [Omar's] claim that somehow free speech requires that people say what she wants to say. The idea to say that in order to protect American free speech we must say that we hate Israel is bizarre." Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "I think the BDS movement is harmful, and anyone that promotes it is making a big mistake." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) strongly condemned the BDS movement at the AIPAC conference in March. Lawmakers said they expect a vote next week on a resolution that would explicitly denounce the BDS movement and call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The resolution says, "The BDS Movement promotes principles of collective guilt, mass punishment, and group isolation, which are destructive of prospects for progress towards peace and a two-state solution."
2019-07-19 00:00:00
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