Trump: Democrats ‘Hate Israel with Unbridled Passion’

In a series of tweets denouncing “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen,’ US President Donald Trump accused unnamed politicians across the political aisle of hating Israel “with unbridled passion.” The US leader was almost certainly referring to a trio of new lawmakers known as “the squad”—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, is the latest of the three to get into hot water when over the weekend she described Israel as a “racist” country that practices “dehumanization” policies in contravention of international law. She then compared the situation in Israel to the era of racial segregation in the United States. For her part, Omar has caused controversy after controversy by asserting, for example, that US legislators support Israel only to garner donations (“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she tweeted). In a subsequent online post, Omar implied that AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group, was influencing US policy by “pushing for allegiance to a foreign country [Israel].” In 2012, Omar accused the Jewish state of “evil doings” that went unpunished because the nation has “hypnotized the world.” Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez has pushed to cut military aid to Israel, and alleged that the state had perpetrated a “massacre” in the terrorist-ruled Gaza Strip. All three hit back at President Trump, with Omar writing, “You are stoking white nationalism [because] you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.” Previously, President Trump called for the trio to return to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came.… Their disgusting language and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged.”