“Squad” Member Rep. Pramila Jayapal Needs To Be Censured in Congress Immediately

Lately, whenever controversy surfaces surrounding “The Squad,” we’re pretty quick to keep scrolling because we know, for the most part, their words and actions carry no weight, but that just changed. On Saturday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) was participating in a panel discussion at a progressive conference when the event was interrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Jayapal, who is the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, responded to the group, saying:

I want you to know that 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 from us.

She already walked back the horrendous remarks:

Words do matter and so it is important that I clarify my statement. I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist. I do, however, believe that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.

But it’s too late. It’s in quick, split-second moments like this that people reveal their true colors, and Rep. Jayapal definitely showed hers (as if it were a secret before). She just reconfirmed what we’ve known to be true all along – that her open disdain for one of America’s greatest allies and the Jewish people should have been condemned a long time ago.

Now, a group of Jewish Democrats in the House are sending around a letter denouncing her hatred. A draft copy of the letter was obtained by Axios, and it reads, in part:

Israel is the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people and efforts to delegitimize and demonize it are not only dangerous and antisemitic, but they also undermine America’s national security. We will never allow anti-Zionist voices that embolden antisemitism to hijack the Democratic Party and country.

Axios reports that the letter has been authored by a number of Members of Congress on the Left: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Greg Landsman (OH-1), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Dean Phillips (MN-3), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), and Kathy Manning (NC-6)

In a joint statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5), and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33) said that “Israel is not a racist state.” They added:

As a Jewish and Democratic nation, Israel was founded 75 years ago on the principle of complete equality of social and political rights for all of its citizens irrespective of religion, race or sex, as codified in its Declaration of Independence. . . . As House Democratic leaders, we strongly support Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people.

To add fuel to the fire, just last week, Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) said there’s “no way in hell” she’d attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress in D.C. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), and Cori Bush (MO-1) are joining her in boycotting the address.  

The problem is that leaders on the Left need to do more than mere words. These leaders feign their support for Israel while refusing to actually condemn their colleagues who hold these antisemitic views. Antisemitic attacks on Israel and the Jewish people should not be tolerated in Congress. Rep. Jayapal deserves to be censured in Congress. We have long called for fellow members of the “Squad,” Reps. Omar and Tlaib, to be censured for their consistent antisemitic attacks on Israel and the Jewish people. It’s time to censure them all.