When Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called Israel “a racist state,” she was quick to apologize and walk back her comment.
But Republicans weren’t going to just let a good controversy die.
Ever since Jayapal made the comment on Saturday at the liberal Netroots Nation conference, Republicans have devoted much of their attention to humiliating the congresswoman, tying the rest of the Democratic Party to Jayapal’s words, and highlighting the divisions.
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A one-page resolution from Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) declared that Israel is “not a racist or apartheid state,” said the U.S. would always support Israel, and announced that Congress condemns antisemitism and xenophobia. Republicans put the legislation to a vote Tuesday night, and overwhelmingly adopted the resolution 412-9-1.
House Democrats—part of a party that has deep divides and nuanced disagreements about Israel—were left with little options other than to vote the resolution up or down.
“This is just so perilous,” said one Democratic lawmaker. “The fault line with the exception of literally less than a half dozen outliers in the caucus that are pretty stridently anti-Israel—beyond those outliers, the fault line is between sort of absolute or categorical pro-Israel, versus principled and more nuanced pro-Israel.”
While the news cycle started with Jayapal’s comment on Saturday, by Tuesday, it was House Republicans who were trying to get one more spin out of the news cycle.
The National Republican Congressional Committee—the House GOP’s campaign arm—was aggressively messaging on the issue. The Republican National Committee chimed in Tuesday to attempt to connect the comment to other Democrats. Republican lawmakers took to the House floor this week to boast about their pro-Israel bona fides. And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spent the week suggesting Democrats have a widespread antisemitism problem within the party.
“I think if the Democrats want to believe they do not have a conference that continues to make antisemitic remarks, they need to do something about it... The only time action has ever been taken is when we had to take the action,” McCarthy said Monday, referencing the GOP conference.
McCarthy went even further behind closed doors on Tuesday, with aides strategically leaking that McCarthy told fellow Republicans that, if Democrats didn’t remove Jayapal as the CPC chair, then they just agree with her sentiment on Israel.
That, of course, was not a standard McCarthy has exactly applied to his own conference, but Republicans were eager to connect as many Democrats with Jayapal’s comment as possible—even if she quickly walked it back.
“House [Democratic] leadership don't punish their Antisemitic members when they make bigoted comments and are closet believers that Israel is a racist state—proven by their refusal to whip this vote,” NRCC press secretary Will Reinert wrote in a statement.
House Republicans have made a point this term of putting messaging bills on the floor to pin Democrats on tough issues. The resolution is just the latest example.
As things go in Congress, even Jayapal’s best attempts to clarify her remarks couldn’t slow the messaging death spiral.
Democratic leadership did not push members to vote one way or another on the resolution, and the Democratic lawmaker who wished to remain anonymous said the issue wasn’t discussed in a Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday morning. The Progressive Caucus also didn’t publicly take a stand on the vote.
That left Democrats in a curious position. The vast majority of them simply voted with Republicans, attempting to just put the whole issue behind them.
But nine Democrats simply wouldn’t go along with that strategy, and they were some of the most liberal voices in Congress.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-MO), Andre Carson (D-IN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Summer Lee (D-PA) all voted against the resolution. One Democrat, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), voted present.
A number of those members including Bowman, Omar, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez have also signaled they plan to skip out on a visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday. He will be delivering a speech marking 75 years since his country’s establishment.
But that left the remainder of Democrats voting on a flatly pro-Israel resolution that lacked the nuance many would have liked. For moderates, that could be ammo from potential primary challengers, or lead to tricky questions from voters back home.
Some Democrats, however, went far more on the offensive. A group of 43 House Democrats Monday evening released a statement condemning Jayapal’s remarks, calling them “unacceptable” and declaring that “Israel remains our greatest partner for peace in the Middle East.”
Seven Progressive Caucus members signed on to the letter. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), one of the progressive co-signers, told The Daily Beast the letter was an important moment for her and her constituents. “We have white supremacists all throughout the district throwing out anti-Jewish rhetoric every single day,” she said. “So this is a moment where we have to stand up tall and make sure that everyone knows we do not support it.”
But other members were much more forgiving of Jayapal. Bowman, one of the most visible progressives in the House, suggested that Jayapal was actually trying to make a point.
“I know what she was trying to point out, which, we as a Progressive Caucus are very concerned about the continued occupation, the continued settlement expansion, and the continued settlement violence,” Bowman told The Daily Beast on Monday.
When The Daily Beast pointed out that Progressive Caucus members joined other Democrats in condemning Jayapal’s remarks, Bowman pushed back. “Families disagree,” he said.
“The language at the moment was probably not the best language to use,” he added. “And so, it’s just, the family’s having a bit of a disagreement. And, you know, we live, we learn and we move on.”
Bush, another high-profile progressive, has also been an outright critic of Israel. But she stopped short of calling it a racist state Monday. She did, however, offer some grace to Jayapal’s seemingly perilous position on the issue.
“I get that, you know, she made the statement she made and then she came up with another statement after that, and that’s her choice. You know, those are her words, her choice,” Bush said.
In the moments leading up to the vote, Jayapal was seen talking on the floor with Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Summer Lee (D-PA), Susan Wild (D-PA) and Sara Jacobs (D-CA), among others. As members cast their votes, she remained seated, occasionally looking down at her phone and then up at the board where votes are displayed.
And yet, at Tuesday’s close, it appeared Democrats were prepared to move on.
Jayapal herself told The Daily Beast Monday while quickly exiting the House chamber that she is not concerned about losing her leadership position.
After the vote Tuesday, Jayapal was more outspoken on the pushback, telling reporters that she was “not going to be bullied” by GOP antics.
“I voted yes on the resolution, and I stand by my statement, and I'm going to continue to speak out in the way that I have,” she said.
The Democratic lawmaker agreed that Jayapal’s leadership of the Progressive Caucus seemed in-tact—but noted that doesn’t mean the dustup won’t be a blemish on her resume. Jayapal has long been considered a potential future contender for House Democratic leadership, though she passed on a formal run this term.
This also wasn’t Jayapal’s first notable controversy as leader of the Progressive Caucus. Last year, Jayapal caused a different round of tensions after a letter from the Progressive Caucus calling for diplomacy with Russia to resolve the Ukraine war was released without some signatories’ final OKs.
The letter was later retracted. Onlookers speculated it’d be a blight to her record.
“I think, to the extent that she might have harbored hopes of, you know, ascending to Democratic leadership at some point,” the lawmaker said, “this probably will hurt her in the long term.”
