Rep. Jeff Van Drew called on President Joe Biden to speak out against antisemitism and call out progressives in his party "when they come out with antisemitic remarks," following the weekend hostage situation at a Texas synagogue.
"That hurts all of us," the New Jersey Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report."
"It hurts the country. It hurts what happens around the world. He has to get some control in his own party when statements are put out, as they have been in the past."
Van Drew did not mention by name which representatives he was talking about, but last summer, House Republicans presented a resolution calling on Congress to censure and condemn Democrat members of "the Squad," including Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; for defending terrorist organizations and inciting antisemitic attacks across the United States.
The move came after Omar made comments that equated actions committed by the U.S. and Israel to those by the Taliban and Hamas terrorist groups.
Van Drew on Monday also said it was fortunate that people held hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, knew how to deal with a hostage situation, and that the FBI dealt with the situation in an "appropriate and forceful way."
The hostage-taker was killed and all four hostages, including the synagogue's rabbi, were not harmed.
"Unfortunately, that's the world we live in now," said Van Drew. "Also and finally, this is not a gun issue. This is not about guns.
"I mean, if you want to talk about more gun regulations and all that, what you would find is, the more regulated areas, things are even worse. Chicago Philadelphia, New York, the crime rate is much worse than anywhere else. This is about antisemitism. This is about terrorism. This is about something that we cannot tolerate."
Van Drew also talked about the upcoming Senate vote on the Democrats' voting legislation and insisted that the filibuster must not be changed, as Biden and Democrats want, to get the legislation passed.
"This isn't really good voting rights legislation," said Van Drew. "We need good voting rights legislation in each and every state in the country. We need not to federalize it. That's not the answer."
Instead, he continued, the answer is to make sure that voting rolls are clean and that states ask for identification checks to ensure that the "person who's voting is really representing themselves."
But the law as written "does not represent voting integrity," said Van Drew.
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