Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Thursday doubled down on her criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, clarifying she is sorry for how her "words made people feel," but said her remarks were not anti-Semitic.
During an interview with The Intercept's "Deconstructed with Mehdi Hasan," the congresswoman was asked if her apology was for her wording or for "being anti-Semitic, wittingly or unwittingly."
Omar said, "Absolutely not," adding, "I apologized for the way that my words made people feel. Often times, you know, we are in places where someone will say something and they might not know how it makes you feel, and it's not acceptable that once you express to them that this is hurtful or that you have felt attacked by their words. They should acknowledge how you feel. They should speak to that. They should apologize. And you know figure out a way to remedy that situation."
When asked why she deleted her tweets, the source of the controversy, Omar said, "The reason, you know, and the purpose of the apology was to make sure that the people who were hurt felt understood and heard. And leaving the tweets up no longer would be part of that."
Omar added later "there have been many members within journalism, within politics, within all kind of aspects of our society who have spoken about the kind of influence that AIPAC has on Congress and on our foreign policy. No one calls them anti-Semitic because they are Jewish."
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