U.S.
representatives claimed their colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar, was
anti-Semitic when she brought up AIPAC’s influence over members of
Congress.
by
Alex Kotch
Part
4 - The Defense Industry
The
influence of AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations impacts one of
Washington’s biggest special-interest groups: the defense industry.
As Sludge previously reported, both defense and pro-Israel
interests have donated significant amounts of money to the campaign
of Engel, whose committee has jurisdiction of arms exports. The top
U.S. weapons manufacturers benefit from Israeli weapons purchases,
made possible in part by American financial assistance.
Engel
was one of several Democrats to chastise Omar on Monday. In 2017, he
co-sponsored an anti-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) bill in the
House (Omar and Tlaib’s support for BDS is at the root of their
colleagues’ criticisms of them). In line with AIPAC, Engel also
opposed the 2010 Iran Deal and supported Trump’s Israeli embassy
relocation.
Despite
Democratic House leaders having stymied an effort to censure the
openly white supremacist Republican Rep. Steve King (Iowa) last
month, they called on Omar to apologize for her tweets on Monday
afternoon, which she did minutes later on Twitter.
In her
apology, Omar added, “I reaffirm the problematic role of
lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil
fuel industry. It’s gone on too long and we must be willing to
address it.”
***
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