Jake Tapper says ‘There is anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party’ after DNC protest.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Rep. Jamie Raskin jumped into a conversation on Sunday’s “State of the Union” about anti-Semitism around the world and increasingly in the United States – even within the Democratic Party. Tapper brought up Thursday’s protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters, which was largely made up of groups from the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.
He asked Raskin bluntly: “As a Jewish American, as a proud progressive, as a Democrat, what do you think of this? There is anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party today.”
“Well, anti-Semitism is everywhere these days,” Raskin replied, “while we were discussing with Elon Musk. And I mean, we’re obviously talking about a problem that goes back thousands of years. I was very disappointed when I saw what happened at the DNC the other day.”
Of the protesters who are “kind of tempted to push and shove like Kevin McCarthy did in Congress, but to do it outside, I’m totally against that,” he added. “You should study the history of nonviolent movements in America, like the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the LGBTQ movement, the environmental movement, which were the great civilizing movements of our time and American history that changed things.”
The protest in question was organized by IfNotNow, a Jewish-led peace organization describes himself as “a movement of American Jews organizing our community to end U.S. support for Israel’s apartheid system and demand equality, justice and a prosperous future for all Palestinians and Israelis.”
The night ended with violent clashes between protesters and US Capitol Police, who were later released a statement that claims“We have handled hundreds of peaceful protests, but last night’s group was not peaceful.”
