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"I
do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,"
Jayapal said in a statement.
"I do, however, believe that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin)
Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in
discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are
extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the
current government," she added.
On Saturday, Jayapal made her initial remarks - labeling Israel
a "racist state" - at a conference held in Chicago where
pro-Palestine protesters were interrupting a panel discussion,
according to media reports.
In a separate statement on Sunday, House Democratic Leader
Hakeem Jeffries and three of his top leadership aides said that
"Israel is not a racist state," in an apparent rebuke to Jayapal.
They added, "There are individual members of the current Israeli
governing coalition with whom we strongly disagree," just as
they often disagree with U.S. House Republican lawmakers.
The Jeffries statement did not specifically mention Jayapal.
The controversy surfaced as the U.S. House and Senate have
invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to address a joint
meeting of Congress on Wednesday, one day after his visit with
President Joe Biden. Some members of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus have signaled that they might not attend the
event.
Jayapal said that she has long supported a two-state solution
for Israel and Palestinians, but pointed out her opposition to
Israel's continued expansion of settlements in disputed areas.
"I in no way intended to deny the deep pain and hurt of Israelis
and their Jewish Diaspora community that still reels from the
trauma of pogroms and persecution, the Holocaust, and continuing
anti-Semitism and hate violence that is rampant today," Jayapal
added.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan)
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