Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is hitting back at Meghan McCain after the conservative commentator attempted to blast her during a discussion on anti-Semitism following a deadly shooting at a California synagogue.
“Oh, bless her heart!” Omar tweeted in response to a clip of “The View” co-host bringing up what have been condemned as anti-Semitic remarks made by the Minnesota Democrat and arguing that such rhetoric should be called out in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.
A white supremacist gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego, killing one woman and leaving the rabbi and two other worshipers injured.
McCain weighed in on the attack during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos.
“I do think when we are having conversations about anti-Semitism we should be looking at the most extreme on both sides, and I would bring up Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and some of her comments that got so much attention,” she said, mentioning the congresswoman unprompted.
McCain argued that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “wasn’t hard enough” in response to Omar “trafficking in anti-Semitic language.” The former Fox News contributor then mentioned Omar’s controversial “it’s all about the Benjamins” tweet, the congresswoman’s quip about why Washington legislators are so consistently responsive to the Israel lobby, a remark that Omar’s critics immediately called an ancient anti-Semitic trope about Jews using their money to control governments.
Though Rep. Omar apologized for her comments, House Democrats moved forward in passing a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry.
“When you are talking about rhetoric and you want to talk about President Trump, and by the way, I agree he needs to have his feet held to the fire as well, but we are talking about it on both sides of the aisle as well,” McCain concluded on Sunday.
Critics didn’t take too kindly to her criticisms of Omar, however, and slammed McCain for suggesting the congresswoman was somehow to blame for the synagogue attack.
.@MeghanMcCain how dare you suggest that @IlhanMN is in some way responsible for the murder of our people when the Poway shooter’s manifesto showed his penchant for violent Islamophobia and antisemitism alike. We know who is killing us. How dare you. pic.twitter.com/ou5HykJnbA
— Sophie Ellman-Golan (@EgSophie) April 28, 2019
