Rep. Maxine Dexter apologized for her remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives last month connecting the Holocaust with the ongoing situation in Gaza.
Dexter, a Democrat who represents most of East and North Portland along with eastern Multnomah County, northeastern Clackamas County and all of Hood River County, addressed the House Thursday, Nov. 20 about her decision to cosponsor H. Res. 876, introduced Thursday, Nov. 13, by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan. Dexter opened her speech by discussing a recent visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the origins of the word “genocide,” a term created to encompass the scope of Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of more than six million Jews in Europe, as her reasoning for cosponsoring the resolution.
“I am deeply sorry that my recent statement on the U.S. House floor gave the impression that I was equating the Holocaust with the evolving events in Gaza,” Dexter wrote in part. “I should not have discussed these two things during the same speech. Doing so gave many the impression I was comparing them — and I am clear that the experience of the Holocaust is without comparison.” (The full text of her apology appears on page 2)
The apology follows a Wednesday, Nov. 26 meeting between Dexter and community leaders including Jewish Federation of Greater Portland President and CEO Marc Blattner and Chief Community Relations and Public Affairs Officer Bob Horenstein. Horenstein described the meeting as a “candid and difficult discussion” and said that Dexter expressed remorse for her “poor choice of words.”
“In the meeting, Rep. Dexter reinforced Israel’s right to exist and to self-defense. However, she believed the Netanyahu government went too far and thus would not withdraw her co-sponsorship of the misguided congressional resolution. On the issue of the Holocaust comparison, she listened intently and we believe her apology was heartfelt,” Horenstein said. “We look forward to working with her and being a resource to her moving forward.”