Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., Friday agreed he'd meet with freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar after arguing with her on Twitter when she agreed with an anti-Israel post that Israel is much like the South in the United States during the segregation era.
"There are a lot of problems with that comparison," Zeldin, who is Jewish, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "Israel doesn't block, with shotgun-carrying Israelis, Arabs [from getting] to the polls, the Arab votes don't get mysteriously lost on the way to getting counted, Arabs don't have to take literacy tests in order to vote."
Zeldin also said he opposes how Omar, a Muslim and Democrat from Minnesota, has called for leniency for ISIS fighters, backed the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and supported disputed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
During their Twitter argument, Zeldin tagged her and posted an anti-Semitic voicemail he'd gotten. Omar responded that the message was "heinous and hateful" and said she's gotten similar messages, and suggested they meet and share notes about fighting religious demonstration.
He said he'd be happy to meet with her but wants her to stop making accusations of Islamophobia, as he has "never once mentioned her religion in any way, shape, or form. It's about her policy; it's about her rhetoric."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.