Jewish Democratic Caucus Condemns Amnesty Director’s Anti-Israel Comments

The Jewish Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives issued a statement on Monday unanimously condemning comments by Amnesty International’s U.S. director to the effect that American Jewry doesn’t really support the existence of Israel.

All 25 members of the caucus signed the statement, a rare show of unanimity by a group whose members ordinarily don’t agree on very much.

“Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director Paul O’Brien has now taken a new, very disturbing step: purporting to speak for the entire Jewish community on Israel. He claimed his “gut” tells him “what Jewish people in this country want” is that Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state,” the statement read.

“As Jewish Members of the House of Representatives, we represent diverse views on a number of issues relating to Israel. However, we are in full agreement that Mr. O’Brien’s patronizing attempt to speak on behalf of the American Jewish community is alarming and deeply offensive. He has added his name to the list of those who, across centuries, have tried to deny and usurp the Jewish people’s independent agency. We stand united in condemning this and any antisemitic attempt to deny the Jewish people control of their own destiny.”

The statement was issued jointly by Reps. Auchincloss, Bonamici, Cicilline, Cohen, Deutch, Frankel, Gottheimer, Jacobs, Levin (CA), Levin (MI), Lowenthal, Luria, Manning, Nadler, Phillips, Raskin, Schakowsky, Schiff, Schneider, Schrier, Sherman, Slotkin, Wasserman Schultz, Wild, and Yarmuth.

Last week, in an address first reported by Jewish Insider, O’Brien defended Amnesty’s recent report labeling Israel an “apartheid” state.

When asked how his view compared with a 2020 Ruderman Family Foundation poll that showed eight in 10 American Jews identify as “pro-Israel,” in line with multiple polls over the years, O’Brien reportedly said:

“I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home,” he said, a status short of a Jewish state.

“We are opposed to the idea — and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate — that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people,” O’Brien had said earlier in his comments.

O’Brien insisted in a tweet Friday that his remarks were taken out of context, although he did not deny the substance of the quote. “I did not and Amnesty takes no position on the legitimacy of any state,” he said.