WASHINGTON — Rep. Pramila Jayapal triggered an uproar when she said in Chicago last Saturday that Israel is a “racist nation,” made in this context: She spoke as she was trying to take the heat off of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who was under sustained attack at a Netroots Nation convention panel from pro-Palestinian protesters.
This is the backstory of what led up to Jayapal, the Washington state Democrat who is the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to say what she said — and on Sunday issue a retraction: “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist.”
