A Democratic member of Congress accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of using "dangerous" language when he called pro-Palestinian protesters in the U.S. antisemitic.
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania told CBS's "Meet the Press" that Netanyahu was trying to "distract from" Israel's "indiscriminate bombings and killings" of Palestinians in Gaza by attacking activists on American college campuses.
"He has not talked to these students. He has not seen their encampments. He has not seen or heard the message that they're delivering. And he doesn't want to hear it, right? His No. 1 goal is, you know, what he's doing over there," Lee said.
"But this idea that every criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic is dangerous. There is a fair critique that we must make of every government, of every war, of every appropriation."
Lee also said she was "not shocked" that Netanyahu would want to portray the protesters as "evil" and "wrong."
"That's been his M.O.," she said.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu alleged that "antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities" in the U.S.
"They call for the annihilation of Israel, they attack Jewish students, they attack Jewish faculty," he said. "This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It's unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned unequivocally."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish and whose father's family was killed in the Holocaust, responded Thursday by saying it's "not antisemitic to hold Mr. Netanyahu accountable for his actions in his horrific war against the Palestinian people."
The Vermont independent ramped up his criticism of Netanyahu on Sunday, accusing the Israeli prime minister of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and saying he's "got to be held accountable."
