Will Democrats Tolerate Racism in Their Caucus?
By 
I ask because Josh Gottheimer is a flat out Islamophobic racist.
Progressive and moderate House Democrats scuffled over the war in Israel during a closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday, with one lawmaker accusing another of saying a “shit thing” about Muslims.
The exchange started when Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) talked to her fellow members about a vigil she attended virtually in the wake of this weekend’s deadly attack by Hamas, according to six people familiar with the events that transpired.
As Wild told fellow House Democrats that she didn’t want any religious community to feel ostracized — noting that Muslim leaders weren’t present at the event she participated in — Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a moderate Jewish Democrat and Israel hawk, loudly interjected.
Accounts differ, however, on whether Gottheimer was referring to Muslims or made an ill-timed remark in an unrelated conversation, with some attendees overhearing him saying “because they’re all guilty” and others saying he stated “because they should feel guilty.” A spokesperson for Gottheimer strongly denied that he was talking about Muslims.
But others in the room were taken aback by his remarks, which they saw as insensitive to Muslims. One Democratic lawmaker shouted out: “Joshua!”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), a first-term progressive lawmaker, and others walked up to confront Gottheimer. The two argued back and forth, according to witnesses, with Gottheimer saying that more people should talk about how Hamas is responsible and Casar countering that Gottheimer didn’t know whether Muslim leaders in Pennsylvania had failed to do that.
Eventually Casar told Gottheimer that his remarks were a “shit thing to say,” sources said, and called the centrist “shameful.” Gottheimer insisted to Casar that the comments weren’t directly aimed at him.
In the U.S., what the Hamas attacks on Israel has done is allowed everyone to be the biggest asshole possible, with a huge number of people either being openly anti-Semitic or really excited to commit genocide against the brown people. Both are completely unacceptable. At the minimum, Gottheimer should lose his committee assignments for this. Unfortunately, we all know this won’t happen, because the power players in the party are far cooler with the hell Israel is about to unleash in Gaza than with thinking Muslims are people. But to blame all Muslims for these attacks is absolutely the same as people as blaming all Jews for Israel’s treatment of Gaza.