House Speaker Pelosi at AIPAC Conference: ‘To Be Antisemitic Is to Be Anti-American’
by Benjamin Kerstein
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi told the crowd at AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday that “to be antisemitic is to be anti-American” and pledged continued bipartisan backing of Israel.
“Support for Israel in America is bipartisan and bicameral — relentlessly bipartisan,” Pelosi said.
“We will never allow anyone to make Israel a wedge issue,” the California congresswoman vowed. “That pledge is proudly honored in this Congress where support for Israel remains iron-clad and bipartisan.”
“We’re proud to have so many champions of Israel serving as leaders and committee chairs,” she noted. “These leaders deeply understand the importance of the bonds between America and Israel, and they are working tirelessly to make those bonds even stronger.”
She also tangentially addressed recent controversies involving members of her party, including antisemitic statements made by Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
“In our democratic societies, we should welcome legitimate debate on how best to honor our values and to advance our priorities without questioning loyalty or patriotism,” said Pelosi, without mentioning Omar by name.
“This month,” Pelosi added, “the full House came together to condemn the antisemitic myth of dual loyalty and all forms of bigotry with a resolution that, quote, ‘Rejects the perpetuation of antisemitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world, including the pernicious myth of dual loyalty and foreign allegiance, especially in the context of support for the United States-Israel alliance.’”
“I simply declare to be antisemitic is to be anti-American,” she stated. “It has no place in our country.”
Pelosi pointedly departed from many of the other conference speakers by omitting any reference to President Donald Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which he made official at a White House ceremony on Monday.