Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Progressive Jewish Groups Back Omar After Trump Attack Tweet

Progressive Jewish groups are expressing their support for Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Trump tweeted a video on Friday that criticized a recent statement she made about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Trump’s video, which has been seen more than 10 million times, spliced footage of 9/11 with comments the Minnesota Democrat made at a gala for a chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, where she said, “CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” Conservatives, including Republican members of Congress, accused Omar of minimizing the incident as merely being “some people did something,” while liberals said that the video took her words out of context and would subject her to even more death threats than she has already received.

Since then, more than 150 progressive groups have signed a letter to show solidarity with Omar, Politico reported. “The attacks aimed at Rep. Omar are beyond the pale,” the letter said. “Far from legitimate disagreements and critiques, there are intentional efforts to spread misinformation and incite fear and hate in the hearts of people in this country.”

Among the signatories were the leaders of Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and local Jewish progressive advocacy groups in New York, Washington and Detroit – as well as the Minnesota-based organization Jewish Community Action, which has worked with her going back to her time in the state legislature, and conducted a training session on anti-Semitism for Omar and her campaign staff in 2018.

Omar has apologized for some of the comments she has made in recent months that led her to be accused of anti-Semitism, but stood by others as legitimate criticism of Israeli actions or of lobbying efforts to further pro-Israel policies.

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action also published a supportive tweet that was retweeted by Omar. “The attacks on you from the President are violent and unconscionable,” the message said. “Our Jewish community has your back. We will not be silent. We will keep fighting for a world where your faith & your leadership are respected.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the Capitol Police on Sunday to assess whether Omar needed more security protection, Politico reported. Trump continued his attacks on Omar on Monday. “Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made,” he tweeted. “She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!”

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.