The controversy began when Vice President Kamala Harris recently answered questions while at George Mason University discussing voting rights. A student spoke of US funding for Israel and called Israel “ethnic genocide and displacement of people,” according to CNN. The student said he feels the need to talk about it because it affects his life and the lives of those close to his heart, according to CNN.
Harris replied “I’m glad you did.”
Republican U.S. Representatives Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs and Joe Wilson of South Carolina 2nd Congressional District wrote a letter to Harris on October 6, condemning his “anti-Israel comments.”
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Harris is married to Doug Emhoff, who is the first Jewish wife of a US president or vice president, according to ABC News.
Harris responded to the student by stating, “Your voice, your point of view, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed and must be heard,” according to the letter.
In the letter, Lamborn and Wilson said the student was referring to funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which “House Progressives demanded” be cut. They called the demand to cut US funding “anti-Semitic action” and said it prompted the House of Representatives to pass HR 5323, which allocated $ 1 billion to replenish the Iron Dome’s missile supply. . “This funding is essential to reduce conflicts in the region and protect the innocent lives of Israeli citizens,” they wrote in the letter.
Break 🚨 @RepJoeWilson & I sent a letter to Vice President Harris condemning his recent anti-Israel comments. With the rise of anti-Semitism around the world, we cannot allow a member of the Biden administration to spread blatantly false information about one of our longest allies, Israel.
Read more pic.twitter.com/xIsMeyhafc
– Representative Doug Lamborn (@RepDLamborn) October 7, 2021
“Further, your assertion of his remarks is not just based on an anti-Semitic worldview, it is a lie,” Lamborn and Wilson wrote. “The truth is not subjective but based on facts. Israel does not commit in any way, form or form of ethnic genocide. Israel has the absolute right to defend itself.
According to CNN, Symone Sanders, spokesperson for Harris, said that “the vice president strongly disagrees with the student’s characterization of Israel.”
“Throughout her career, the vice president has been steadfast in her commitment to Israel and Israel’s security,” Sanders said, according to CNN. “During a visit to George Mason University to discuss voting rights, a student expressed a personal opinion during a political science class.
“I am extremely disappointed with the anti-Israel comments made by Vice President Harris last week,” Lamborn said in an Oct. 7 statement. Press release. “The Democratic Party is becoming more and more anti-Semitic, and I deeply fear its comments will fuel that sentiment. “
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, a group that works to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, tweeted on September 30 that he spoke to Harris and she confirmed that she knew that Israel’s claim to commit ethnic genocide was “patently false.”
I just talked to @VP Office. Glad to hear her confirm that she is proud of her record #Israel, and knows that claiming that he is committing “ethnic genocide” is patently false. You seek to clear the record so that there is no ambiguity that what this student said was hateful / false.
– Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 30, 2021
The Republicans’ letter ended with Lamborn and Wilson asking Harris to apologize, pledge to fight anti-Semitism, and work to support Israel.
