Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is running for Congress in California’s 50th district, shared chat messages in which he opposed the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel — despite publicly saying he supports peace.
In some messages, Campa-Najjar appeared to oppose the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He also suggested that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has opposed the two-state solution, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who has supported it, should remain “on message” in opposition to it.
Breitbart News obtained the chat messages from a WhatsApp group in which Campa-Najjar and associates discussed politics.
Campa-Najjar is of both Mexican and Palestinian descent, and spent part of his childhood in Gaza. His father has served as a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Last month, Campa-Najjar told Breitbart News Tonight that he supports peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He also repudiated — again — the views and actions of his grandfather, who was a Palestinian terrorist, and was killed by Israeli special forces long before Campa-Najjar was born.
The issue arose in Campa-Najjar’s 2018 campaign, in which he fell short of unseating Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA). (Hunter, who was under indictment during the campaign, later resigned and pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.)
In 2012, Campa-Najjar produced and released a music video calling to “free Palestine.” His campaign told Breitbart News: “It’s promoting peace, as Ammar always has.”
However, the WhatsApp messages appear to tell a different story.
In one message, he mocked his opponent, former Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), for praising the recent peace and normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In another message, Campa-Najjar criticized Issa for saying that Palestinians had crossed the Israeli border to kill Israelis — an accurate depiction of terrorist infiltrations into Israel.
“He’s just abandoned us,” Campa-Najjar wrote, referring to Palestinians. “Just like he abandoned his district.” (Issa formerly represented the 49th district, before retiring in 2019.)
Campa-Najjar also criticized “some Arabs in our community, in our close circles, supporting this man.” He added: “Remember that.”
Issa is also Arab American, of Lebanese descent.
In one message, Campa-Najjar informed the chat that one of his primary opponents is “Jewish.” In another, he described his opponents as “non-Arab white old men.”
He also promised to push for “real action” on behalf of the Palestinians, calling the “window” for a two-state solution “virtually closed.”
In one message, Campa-Najjar asked the group if “we” have “approached Ilhan [Omar] about not advocating [a] two state solution?”. He added: “Just think her, Rashida [Tlaib] and I should be on message together.”
Campa-Najjar linked to an op-ed from the Washington Post in which Omar supported a two-state solution to the conflict.
At one point, a member of the group called out Campa-Najjar for distancing himself from his grandfather while also talking about the suffering of the Palestinians. He concluded that Campa-Najjar “will tell every group what the want to hear.”
Campa-Najjar responded: “I have not supported the Muslim ban.” He added: “[F]eel free to look through my FEC filings and identify one Zionist who has donated to my campaign.”
In another set of messages, Campa-Najjar defended Rep. Omar’s bill supporting the rights of the anti-Israel “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement. He called the bill “deeply constitutional” and added: “Thank god she’s in there.”
He also shared a tweet showing Rep. Tlaib polling well against her 2020 Democratic primary opponents, adding: “Rashida is doing great!”.
Reached for comment via e-mail, Campa-Najjar replied: “Unverified WhatsApp comments? You should read public statements form Issa calling Israel an apartheid state, sympathies for Hezbollah, meeting with Bashar Asad [sic].”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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