The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) Tuesday made the following statement in response to the criticism directed towards Israel from some Members of Congress after the latest rocket attacks aimed at Israel from Gaza:
“The National Council of Young Israel commends those who have stood with Israel and supported their right to self-defense while their civilians were being attacked in terror missile strikes by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The NCYI thanks President Trump, Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo for their strong support, and appreciates the bipartisan support from Senators Schumer and McConnell, as well as from Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Booker.
“The National Council of Young Israel strongly condemns the criticism directed at Israel by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar and Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel while Israeli civilians were being attacked and four were murdered by acts of terrorism. Gravel and Tlaib oppose the existence of the state of Israel, and according to the international accepted definition of anti-Semitism, their views are anti-Semitic. Tlaib condemned Israel and defended Hamas’ horrific and indiscriminate attacks that claimed four lives, and her criticism needs to be called out for what it is; namely, anti-Semitism.
“A tweet from Congresswoman Omar, who supports the anti-Semitic BDS movement, indicated a condemnation of Israel while missiles were being shot at its civilians. Although Hamas is openly committed to Israel’s destruction, Omar, Tlaib and Gravel cannot seem to condemn Hamas or denounce its evil objectives. It is blatantly obvious that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is directly attributable to the fact that Hamas prefers to use the vast aid it receives to attack Israel and build missiles, instead of focusing on building an economic infrastructure. Israel relinquished land in Gaza, and instead of receiving peace they received missiles, yet somehow Omar and Tlaib both continue to refer to Gaza as occupied despite the fact that Israel withdrew from Gaza over a decade ago.
“The NCYI reiterates its call for the Democratic leadership in the House to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Relations Committee and Rep. Rashida Tlaib from all Congressional Committees, as the Republicans correctly did with Representative Steve King.”