Thursday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Meghan McCain got emotional during the discussion on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) controversial remarks about Israel.
McCain said, “This issue is really intense for me and just bear with me. I want to say first and foremost — antisemitism shouldn’t be a left or right issue. I don’t think we should be politicizing on either side because, as we know, if it’s a tiki torch person in Charlottesville saying Jews will not replace us or we had Bari Weiss talking about these more dog-whistle moments that, in my view, Ilhan Omar is doing. She, as of Saturday, had gone 15 days without saying something antisemitic.”
Co-host Joy Behar said, “The other thing, why are they always concentrating on Israel is what I want to know. It’s a little tiny part in the world. She’s from Mogadishu. Does she object to things from there? I’m sure she does, and Yemen and all the hot spots in the world, yet this seems to be the focus of a lot of people around the world, including the U.K. and here, Israel, Israel, Israel, why that particular country? It’s very suspicious to me.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “Where it crosses the line is when you say that Israel does not have the right to exist, that is when it crosses the line. Ilhan Omar has never suggested Israel does not have the right to exist. It seems to me that Republicans are trying to use this as a wedge issue. and it seems like this selective outrage is kind of crazy because I don’t think that the Republicans have moral high ground here.”
She added, “Remember that Ilhan Omar, the West Virginia Republican party just had this huge poster superimposed with her face with 9/11 terrorists and I haven’t heard any outrage about that coming from the Republican party. And all that says is that this is selective outrage, and I will tell you. I take this very personally as a woman of color who has been the subject of so much bigotry.”
McCain said, “I take the hate crimes rising in this country incredibly seriously, and I think what’s happening in Europe is really scary. I’m sorry I am getting emotional. The idea that this is politicized…it really shouldn’t be. On both sides, it should be called out. Just because I don’t technically have Jewish family that are related to me doesn’t mean that I don’t take this as seriously and it is very dangerous, very dangerous. And I think we collectively as Americans on both sides – what Ilhan Omar is saying is very scary to me and its very scary to a lot of people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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