Ilhan Omar is 'gaslighting' by suggesting some Jewish students are 'pro-genocide' decry pro-Israel groups fed up with the radical 'Squad' member

Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of 'blood libel' by the anti-defamation league for saying some Jewish students are 'pro-genocide.' 

While visiting campuses last week to show solidarity with pro-Gaza student protesters after her daughter was arrested, Omar spoke out against bigotry against Jewish students in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark. 

'I think it is really unfortunate that people don't care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe, and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they're pro-genocide or anti-genocide,' she said. 

'It is patently false and a blood libel to suggest that ANY Jewish students are 'pro-genocide,'' Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of 'blood libel' by the anti-defamation league for saying some Jewish students are 'pro-genocide'

A protester holds a Palestinian flag as students rally on Columbia University campus at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, despite a 2 pm deadline issued by university officials to disband or face suspension,

'It is gaslighting to impute that Jewish people are somehow at fault for being harassed and menaced with signs and slogans literally calling for their own extermination. It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner. This is how people get killed.'  

Omar then referred to a report from The Intercept about the Department of Education investigating protests at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for anti-Palestinian bias. 

In a civil rights complaint 18 students said they had been the victim of 'extreme anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and discrimination.' One allegation claimed a student had shouted 'kill all Arabs' at pro-Gaza demonstrators. One university official had allegedly said of the protestors: 'They are all Hamas. All grotesquely evil.'

'This is the pro-genocide I was talking about, can you condemn this like I have condemned antisemitism and bigotry of all kind?' Omar challenged Greenblatt.

Omar is one of 37 House Democrats who voted against aid for Israel earlier this month as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza since October 7 surpassed 34,000. 

Omar's comments come as Republicans have repeatedly demanded Columbia President Minouche Shafik resign for being unable to quash the demonstrations. Speaker Mike Johnson suggested President Joe Biden bring in the National Guard.

Last week the House's Republican Whip Tom Emmer accused Omar of being 'pro-terrorist.'  

Columbia sophomore, David Lederer, waves a large flag of Israel outside the student protest encampment on the Columbia University campus, Monday, April 29, 2024,

Pro-Palestinian students protest at an encampment on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 28, 2024

The protests against Israel's war with Hamas began at Columbia University earlier this month before spreading to campuses across the country

Columbia's 2 p.m. deadline for student demonstrators to clear out an encampment or face disciplinary action came and went on Monday but the camps remain. Columbia faculty linked arms and formed a wall of protection around the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. 

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito suggested pro-Palestinian demonstraters were 'proud that you've been endorsed by Hamas.'

Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz likened antisemitism within Columbia's protests to the 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist rally last week. 

'We were mad years ago when we saw Charlottesville and 'Jews will not replace us' and Donald Trump saying 'Good people on both sides' or 'Mexicans are rapists,' right? But somehow we don't have the same anger of, 'Go back to Poland,'' Moskowitz said on CNN.

'It's the same message, which is, 'Jews are not welcome,'' he continued.