ST PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota state lawmaker is firing back after criticism from his DFL colleagues over statements he made about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. 

State Senator Ron Latz spoke out during a press conference Wednesday to condemn a movement that seeks to boycott or divest in Israel ahead of a meeting of the State Board of Investment. 

“Palestinian youth dream of the opportunity to achieve glory and even martyrdom by killing as many Jews as possible,” asserted the DFLer from St. Louis Park. 

The comment drew a sharp reaction from more than a dozen fellow DFL senators who sent out a press release objecting to Latz’s statements.  

“Yesterday, our colleague Senator Ron Latz held a press conference and used dehumanizing, inflammatory language and rhetoric in his remarks about Palestinians,” the letter reads. “He recited a litany of hateful, prejudicial and demonstrably false claims, describing Gaza as ‘poisonous’ and asserting that ‘Palestinian youth dream of the opportunity to achieve glory and even martyrdom by killing as many Jews as possible.’ Through his language, Senator Latz assigned nefarious motives to Palestinian children, describing them all as aspiring murderers. His remarks were irresponsible and dangerous.”

The letter emphasized that work at the Capitol naturally involves differences of policy and strong points of view, but insisted “we must be able to have difficult conversations while maintaining respect for the humanity of everyone.” 

On Thursday, Senator Latz shot back, accusing his colleagues of ignoring his much larger message and focusing in on just one sentence, one he insists was specifically referring to young Gazans allegedly taught at schools that Jews should be killed, children who attend summer camps that he says teach kids how to be terrorists. 

“It is very surprising and disappointing that my Senate DFL colleagues — some of whom have worked with me for years and know well who I am — have chosen to misrepresent and publicly attack my speech by taking one sentence out of context on the topic of BDS’ proposal to divest state funds from Israel,” Latz wrote in his response. “What is even worse is their choice to assign awful intent to the misrepresented information.” 

Senator Latz went on to say he will “stand alone” if necessary in his battle against Hamas terrorism and what he calls “Hamas indoctrination of Gazan youth.” He also provided a list of links and resources Latz says support the facts and the statements he made Wednesday, and issued a plea for continued conversation on the topic of the Israeli/Palestinian war. 

“I invite my colleagues to sit down and talk about the Middle East and the respective roles of Hamas and Israel in the ongoing conflict and the terrible loss of innocent lives,” Latz wrote. “I prefer to engage my colleagues in ways other than in the media. I look forward to those discussions.”

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