Omar calls on Israelis not to vote for Netanyahu

“His existence, his policies, his rhetoric, is contradictory to the peace that we are all hoping that that region receives,” Omar told CBS.

By World Israel News Staff 

As Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for a new Knesset, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) had some advice for them: Don’t vote for the Likud, so that the party’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, does not continue to serve as prime minister.

“I certainly hope that the people of Israel make a different decision and my hope is that they recognize that his existence, his policies, his rhetoric, really is contradictory to the peace that we are all hoping that that region receives and receives soon.”

In an interview with CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, Omar was asked if she would continue to support the boycott movement against Israel even if Netanyahu loses.

She replied that the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement “is the kind of pressure that leads to that peaceful process.”

The Muslim congresswoman cited comments by Netanyahu on extending Israeli sovereignty over portions of Judea and Samaria.

“Look at the annexation that’s taking place. For many of us in Congress, there’s been a long-standing support for a two-state solution and this annexation now is going to make sure that that peace process does not happen and we will not get to a two-state solution,” Omar told CBS.

Omar and another Muslim congresswoman, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), have compared the BDS  movement to boycotts of Nazi Germany.

The two first-term members of the House of Representatives were barred by Israel in August from visiting the Jewish State, which they described as Palestine in their itinerary.

Afterward, Israel permitted Tlaib to visit her grandmother in a village near Ramallah but she declined.

“Her hatred for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother,” said Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri in response to Tlaib’s rejection of the offer.