‘If we can't be on the same page, it's hard for the country to,’ said freshman Rep. Dean Phillips, as about a dozen lawmakers have gathered away from the Capitol.
By Rachael Bade and Rachael Bade Congressional reporter Email Bio Follow Mike DeBonis Mike DeBonis Congressional reporter covering the House of Representatives Email Bio Follow March 17 at 6:19 PM It was supposed to be a chance for Muslim and Jewish House Democrats to ease tensions and find common ground. It ended with one lawmaker in tears.
His words stunned the three Muslim Democrats in the room, as well as some other Jewish members and third-party participants. Rep. Rashida Tlaib , a Palestinian American who does not support the existence of a Jewish-only state, grew emotional and started to cry as she spoke of her grandmother’s suffering in the West Bank at the hands of Israelis. “She would treat you like a grandson,” she said to Phillips, according to two people in the room.
The next day, at a heated closed-door caucus meeting, some of those attendees pushed back against leadership’s plan to reprimand Omar for the same comments Phillips objected to the night before. Some Jewish participants of the meeting broke with people of their own faith who wanted to rebuke Omar by name. They had come to know her, did not believe her comments were intentional and objected to the idea of rebuking a woman who told them the night before about death threats she’d received.
Days before the first meeting on Feb. 13, Omar posted tweets attributing politicians’ support of Israel to campaign money donated by pro-Israel groups — “it's all about the benjamins baby,” she wrote. Critics earlier had unearthed comments Omar made during violence between Israelis and Palestinians in 2012, suggesting Israel had “hypnotized” a world that did nothing to stop the bloodshed.
The idea, according to people familiar with the session, was to humanize each other. Raskin would not discuss details of the meeting but said that he is “constantly trying to get members together to talk about the experiences and values that have brought them into public life.” “I think it was just the beginning, and I think it’s important that we get to understand each other and try and educate people, understand people’s different points of view,” Lowey said about the meeting.
When the small group convened, tensions emerged almost immediately. A Bend the Arc facilitator made a joke about Jews and money to try to clear the air. But Rep. Jahana Hayes , one of the freshman allies invited to join the session, grew serious and asked why the facilitator could talk like that when someone like Hayes could not.
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