BDS / Anti-Semitism / anti-Zionism

This week she gets her own sub-heading:  Ilhan Omar

She is duplicitous; she is not naïve . Last week at a well-known DC restaurant/forum, "Busboys and Poets", when a supporter shouted, "It's all about the Benjamin's", she smirked/smiled/laughed, as others cheered. If her earlier apology for that remark was really sincere, she should have rejected and reprimanded her supporter.

She is the victimizer, but, aided and abetted by her supporters and by those who just want this to go away, she has become the victim.

This controversy, taken together with Bibi's shameful gambit to empower Oztma Yehudit...it makes our job as advocates of a strong, bi-partisan relationship with Israel all the more difficult-and all the more important.

Time is short. Please contact me about coming to AIPAC March 24-26. I promise you it will be exciting. And I promise that you will be safe.

kas

If you read nothing else in this heading, read this, please ( I am mulling over Stephens' second-to-last paragraph; not sure if I agree):

Ilhan Omar Knows Exactly What She Is Doing                                                                                                                     As the criticism of Omar mounts, it becomes that much easier for her to seem like the victim of a smear campaign, rather than the instigator of a smear                

 

A list of lobbies and their spending may surprise Congresswoman Omar and her supporters                  

Poll: Americans, but Not Liberal Democrats, Mostly Pro-Israel                        

Wow! In the Forward! Please read on:

The Left Is Making Jews Choose: Our Progressive Values or Ourselves                                                                   Omar's supporters based their defenses around a bizarre, self-contradictory combination of denying that her words evoked anti-Semitic stereotypes while implicitly admitting her words did evoke those stereotypes with elaborate deflections and whataboutisms. ("Don't throw the book at a Muslim woman of color while ignoring the many, many white Christian members of Congress who've trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes and tell me you're doing it to protect Jews" was a typical sentiment.)                     

Critics of America's Support for Israel Cannot Escape US History     

"AIPAC does not lobby on behalf of Israel. But it almost always sides with the Israeli government, no matter who is in charge                                                              

 

I agree with much that Freidman writes; however he does not acknowledge the constraints under which AIPAC must operate as an advocate for every/any Israeli government, no matter what its policies are. That is both the beauty of AIPAC...and its burden. I can't wait for AIPAC to support the policies of a more tolerant, less polarizing Israeli government coalition!   -  kas

Thomas Friedman: Ilhan Omar, AIPAC and Me     

                                                                   

U.S. House Set to Rebuke Lawmaker for Israel Comments  

 

Watch Congressman Ted Deutch's impassioned speech from the Well of the House here:

"Today the House of Representatives voted to condemn anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, bigotry, racism, and hatred of all kinds. All are worthy of condemnation. I joined my colleagues in condemning them all. But I feel let down by some colleagues who seem to have questioned those of us who feel the weight of history when we hear classic anti-Semitic language - history that has led to targeting Jews, expelling Jews from their countries, violence against Jews, and attempts to exterminate the Jewish people.

Anti-Semitism is worthy of being condemned, singularly .  I hope this painful week is never repeated in this Congress."

 

Neturei Karta Express Support for Ilhan Omar                                                        

Rep. Ilhan Omar Repeats Anti-Semitic Trope against Jewish Congresswoman      

 

                                     

Top Foreign Affairs Democrat Rebukes Rep. Ilhan Omar for "Vile Anti-Semitic Slur"                                           

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says Ilhan Omar is Subject to a Double Standard in Congress                                 

 "For the second time in two months, we're diverting the floor of the U.S. House to address an issue directly because of her." 

Ilhan Omar is a big deal. She's a new Congresswoman, and when she assumed office she pushed to get the House rules changed so she could wear her  hijab  - which means Jews can wear yarmulkes. She's a Somali refugee and a Democrat who represents a district in Minnesota.

She supports BDS, a fact she revealed only  after  she was elected. And she's been accused of making  anti-Semitic remarks .

Whether you've been following the news about her already or just tuning in, we want to help you make sense of what's happening.

Most recently, Omar  tweeted  about "allegiance" to Israel. She was condemned and defended with equal ferocity. Our reporter Ari Feldman, a Minnesotan himself, surveys key players to find out what we're talking about when we talk about Ilhan Omar:  Israel, or anti-Semitism ?

If you need a bit of a primer, we've created a  timeline   for you, by news writer  Alyssa Fisher . It will help you understand what's happened in the past week, and how we got here.

  You might also be interested in how her Jewish constituents say that they've already tried to school her on anti-Semitism; you can read about it in  this article  by Aiden Pink, our politics reporter, who also hails from Minnesota. Is a primary challenge in the offing? Follow  @aidenpink on Twitter for news on that.

Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon suggests that you read    this  criticism,  this  defense, and this  lament to get a sense of the debate swirling around Omar. And you can go to our   Opinion section for even more.

We hope you find these articles useful. Please let us know! We're always eager to hear from you.

 

Warmly,

Helen Chernikoff

Senior News Editor

 

And this came from JTA's Ron Kampeas:

Democrats' All Lives Matter Moment

Democrats came to an agreement on a resolution to denounce anti-Semitism and other forms of bias, but few -- particularly the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi -- seemed especially satisfied.

There was agreement on a resolution that forcefully denounces the "dual loyalty" species of anti-Semitism that a Democratic freshman, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, has peddled. It also tweaks Republicans by denouncing the brand of bias critics most closely identify with President Donald Trump -- Islamophobia -- and taking aim at the white supremacists who have declared themselves his supporters.

At her weekly news conference, Pelosi said she had spoken with Omar and explained why her remarks about refusing to pledge "allegiance" to Israel were hurtful to Jews and others, in that they suggest that supporters of Israel are more loyal to a foreign country than their own.

But Pelosi made clear that Omar Just. Didn't. Get. It: "I don't think that the congresswoman perhaps appreciates the full weight of how it was heard by other people, although I don't believe it was intended in an anti-Semitic way," said a subdued Pelosi, announcing that the revised resolution would come to the floor the same day.

In other words, this issue isn't going away. Here are some reasons why:

* Omar is feeling emboldened: The 37-year-old lawmaker has twice apologized for peddling two other anti-Semitic tropes -- that Israel had "hypnotized" the world and that lawmakers backed Israel only in exchange for campaign donations. She's not apologizing this time. Instead, Omar is having a Twitter battle with veteran Jewish colleagues like Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.

* Omar has friends: A gross Islamophobic attack on Omar at a West Virginia GOP event (an attack denounced by Republicans) that coincided with her "allegiance" controversy drew plenty of sympathy from colleagues, who may already feel protective of the newcomer and pathmaker -- she's the first Somali refugee and one of two Muslim women in Congress.

The House whip, James Clyburn of South Carolina, went so far as to suggest that Omar's sense of hurt is more "personal" because she is an actual refugee -- unlike, say, the descendants of Holocaust survivors or Japanese Americans interned during World War II. That prompted a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League.

"The Holocaust was a singular tragedy resulting in the death of six million Jews," ADL said on Twitter. "It's offensive to diminish the suffering of survivors and the continuing pain of Jews today."

* Some of those friends are in high places: Four Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have issued statements on the controversy. Harris, Sanders and Warren cast Omar as a victim, while only Gillibrand chided her for employing "anti-Semitic tropes.

Sanders and Warren, additionally, said Omar was being targeted for her tough posture on Israel, although only one Democrat, Juan Vargas of California, had mentioned Israel policy - caucus criticisms of Omar focused entirely on the anti-Semitic tropes. Batya Ungar-Sargon at the Forward writes about how unsettling this is for Jews watching the 2020 presidential race.

* Jews are not happy. Reports that Democrats were revising the resolution to include other forms of bias led to concern that the message would be diluted.

"I don't want to see this all-lives-mattered," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said on CNN before the resolution was published -- referring to attempts by white critics to defuse the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rep. Ted Deutch issued an impassioned appeal on the House floor: "When a colleague invokes anti-Semitic lies three times, then this body must condemn anti-Semitism," Deutch said. "Anti-Semitism is worthy of being condemned on its own."

The text of the actual resolution is less diffuse than those fears warranted: Its focus is on anti-Semitism, with an emphasis on the dual loyalty canard invoked by Omar, and the rest is mostly about Islamophobia.

"The message of the condemnation of anti-Semitism will be very clear," Halie Soifer, who directs the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told me.

* The timing isn't great: The tussle comes just weeks before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, expected to draw 18,000 activists to Washington. AIPAC will emphasize bipartisanship and demand no booing from attendants; that might get observed in the breach. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to attend in person, and will meet with President Donald Trump, who is likely to seize the opportunity to present himself as the savior of the Jews. He has already taken aim at Democrats on Twitter.

* And not just Trump: Republicans naturally are making hay of splits within a Democratic caucus that until now had scored impressive victories, including forcing Trump to back down from a government shutdown.

"I took for granted as a result House Democrats would at least, at least make good on their plan to symbolically condemn anti-Semitism," Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader in the Senate, sneered on the Senate floor. "I at least assumed a few pages of symbolism was not too much to ask.

* The bright side: Non-Jewish House Democrats who have forcefully denounced Omar's rhetoric include some usual suspects - Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York. But it also drew out some unusual ones, including Rep. Betty McCollum, a fierce critic of Israel. She said in a statement that her fellow Minnesotan "must take responsibility for the effect her words have on her colleagues, her constituents, and the policies Democrats seek to advance."

Also chiding Omar was Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey: "What we've seen are statements suggesting that our fellow Americans who back our current policy are motivated not by sincere conviction, but by money or loyalty to another state," he said on Twitter, naming Omar. "The overwhelming majority of us have and will continue to condemn that way of thinking."

The Republican Jewish Coalition had made Malinowski, a freshman, a target in the last election because for a time he worked for Human Rights Watch, a group stridently critical of Israeli policies, and because he was a veteran of the Obama administration's State Department. (Malinowski's brief did not include Israel).

The Young German Jews Who Left Everything Behind - and Moved to Israel                                                   Increasing anti-Semitism and a general feeling of foreignness are pushing more and more German Jews to move to Israel. Despite the many obstacles that stand in the way, they seem to have no regrets.