Why Pramila Jayapal Was Right to Call Israel a ‘Racist State’
Last Saturday, in what was widely referred to as a “gaffe,” Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash) referred to Israel as a “racist state.” She was responding to pro-Palestinian protesters disrupting a Netroots Nation panel and trying to reassure them that she shared their concerns about Israel’s many violations of the human, civil, and democratic rights of its Palestinian population.
Jayapal was immediately rebuked by all of the top-ranking Democrats in the House—Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu. On Sunday, she issued a groveling apology to those who had been “hurt” by her words—but by then it was too late. On Tuesday, the House voted by a crushing bipartisan majority of 412 to 9 for a resolution affirming America’s continuing alliance with Israel and declaring that Israel is “not a racist or apartheid state.”
That would be news to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even Israeli human rights groups like B’Tselem—all of which have used the word “apartheid” to describe Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Things have gotten so bad in recent decades that more than a third of American Jews under the age of 40 tell pollsters they agree with the statement, “Israel is an apartheid state.”