Cantor: Pelosi Remarks About Jews 'Patronizing and Deeply Insulting'

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired back at Nancy Pelosi for her remarks about Republican Jews, calling the comments “patronizing and deeply insulting,” according to the Weekly Standard.

Pelosi, the House minority leader, recently told Bloomberg News that Republican Jews are "being exploited."

Responding to a question about whether President Barack Obama will do as well with Jewish voters this time around, Pelosi said, according to a transcript from the “Political Capital” show, “I think that he will, because the fact is when the facts get out. You know, as many of the Republicans are using Israel as an excuse, what they really want are tax cuts for the wealthy. So Israel, that can be one reason they put forth.

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Host Al Hunt then said, “That’s why some of the Republican Jewish supporters are really active.”

To which Pelosi responded: “Well, that’s how they’re being exploited. And they’re smart people. They follow these issues. But they have to know the facts. And the fact is that President Obama has been the strongest person in terms of sanctions on Iran, which is important to Israel. He’s been the strongest person on whether it’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling, any of these weapons systems and initiatives that relate to Israel. He has been there over and over again.”

The remarks left Cantor and other Republicans fuming.

"It is both patronizing and deeply insulting for Nancy Pelosi to suggest any Jew is 'exploited' for their political beliefs or that support for Israel is somehow an 'excuse' for anything,” Cantor said, according to the Weekly Standard. “Such thinking diminishes the importance of issues affecting Jews everywhere."

Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told the Washington Post,“The one thing I can agree with Nancy Pelosi on is that Jewish Republicans are ‘smart people,’” Brooks said. “We’re smart enough to know that when it comes to Israel we can do a lot better than Barack Obama. Obama has publicly called for ‘daylight’ between the US and Israel, called for Israel to return to the indefensible ‘67 lines as a precondition for peace talks, and condemned Israel for building in . . . Jerusalem.”

Brooks went on to say, according to the Post, “So, sadly, while I appreciate Pelosi saying Jewish Republicans are smart, we most certainly are not being ‘exploited.’ Given the facts and I only wish that when it comes to Israel Nancy Pelosi and other defenders of Obama’s failed Israel policies were as smart as us Jewish Republicans.”

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