Congress

Ilhan Omar thanks Democratic congressman who called her tweet anti-Semitic

Fellow freshman Rep. Max Rose was among her first critics

Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., left, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are seen in the House Chamber before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 5, 2019. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., left, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are seen in the House Chamber before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 5, 2019. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
By Emily Kopp
Posted February 12, 2019 at 9:58am

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., thanked Democrat  Max Rose for his “call to do better” after he criticized her tweet critical of the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee as “deeply hurtful to Jews.”

“I appreciated your call to do better as a friend and ally and appreciate your courage in calling out the double standard in Congress,” Omar tweeted.

Omar received an avalanche of condemnation from members of Congress Monday for her tweet quoting the P. Diddy lyric, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” to ascribe Republicans’ fierce opposition to boycotting Israel to the power of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, D.C.

But Rose, a first-term legislator from New York, was among her first critics.

The 11th District Democrat praised Omar’s apology for the tweet outside her office late Monday.

“She’s a friend. I take her at her word,” he told reporters, adding, “We share great values. She wants to see a great country, and I look forward to working with her.”

Rose also criticized the press for a double standard in not directing the same attention to a tweet by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.  The Republican’s tweet warned voters that three Jewish Democratic megadonors — George Soros, Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer — were seeking to “buy” the midterm election.

“I do want to point out though, to all of you, that when Kevin McCarthy said that it was Bloomberg, and it was Soros, and it was Steyer pulling the strings behind the scenes, none of you camped out. Right?” Rose said to the gaggle of reporters.

“And their caucus stayed united, and had his back, and none of you called him out on that,” Rose continued. “So I just want you to acknowledge there’s some hypocrisy going on there too. That caucus can’t be chickens–t in the face of anti-Semitism either.”

A Twitter search of Rose’s account for condemnations of McCarthy’s tweet returned no results.