(JTA) The top two Jewish members of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee revile BDS, the boycott Israel movement.
Its newest member, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has embraced the movement.
It’s not a big deal, the Jewish Democrats say.
Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the committee chairman, and Ted Deutch, D-Fla., its Middle East subcommittee chairman, told JTA that yes, they consider the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel to be a threat. But the bigger picture, they say, is that Omar is just one of two members who have embraced BDS, that the party remains pro-Israel and that there’s much common ground among Democrats.
“As I have consistently made clear, I am steadfastly opposed to BDS against Israel, as are nearly all of my colleagues,” Deutch told JTA in an email.
