US House passes resolution condemning anti-Semitism, bigotry

Washington, March 8 (IANS) The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a broad resolution condemning racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry amid tensions stemming from a Democratic lawmaker's Israel-related remarks.

The vote for the resolution, launched by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was 407 in favor and 23 against, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This is an opportunity once again to declare as strongly as possible opposition to anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim statements" and "white supremacist attitudes," said Pelosi before the voting.

"Whether from the political right, center, or left, bigotry, discrimination, oppression, racism, and imputations of dual loyalty threaten American democracy and have no place in American political discourse," the resolution states.

It condemns "anti-Semitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values and aspirations that define the people of the US and condemning anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contrary to the values and aspirations of the US."

The voting came after controversial remarks by Democratic lawmaker Ilhan Omar were panned as anti-Semitic since they appeared to question whether people advocating for Israel were more loyal to that country than the US.

"I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country," she said during a forum last week, referring to Israel.

Omar voted for the resolution together with all other House Democrats. All "no" votes were Republican.

Democrats made a last-minute change on Thursday to add Latinos, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the LGBT community to the list of "traditionally persecuted peoples" targeted by white supremacists, according to local media.