PITTSBURGH – Republican Congressional candidate James Hayes today saluted a Congressional resolution rejecting accusations that Israel is “an apartheid state” and called on incumbent Democratic Rep. Summer Lee to join in voting today in support of the Jewish state.
“It’s time for Summer Lee to leave the political margins and stand against the thinly coded antisemitism of colleagues like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal who have sided with extremists in opposition to the only democracy in the Middle East,” Hayes said.
Hayes is challenging Lee for Congress in Pittsburgh’s 12th District. A former member of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Va., and accomplished business executive, Hayes entered the race in hopes of providing practical solutions in place of Rep. Lee’s penchant for grandstanding.
“Summer Lee hasn’t said if she’ll attend a speech by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. She has consistently sought to undermine the Jewish state. In fact, she wouldn’t even grant an interview to Pittsburgh’s Jewish newspaper,” Hayes said. “It’s time she got on the right side of history and stood with a nation whose enemies have sought to eradicate it from the day it was founded.”
The one-page resolution, offered by Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, says simply that “Israel is not a racist or apartheid state” and rejects all forms of antisemitism. The resolution also goes on to state that the United States “will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel.”
Pfluger introduced the resolution after Rep. Pramila Jayapal called Israel a racist state. Jayapal’s comments set off a political firestorm in Washington and are the latest in a series of attacks against Israel by allies of Rep. Lee.
“It astonishes me that the lessons of the 20th Century have been casually forgotten by members of Congress and that such a resolution is necessary, but apparently it is,” Hayes said. “I hope Summer Lee will choose better company than her colleagues who would abandon a staunch ally and the nation that has become a haven for a persecuted people.”
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