Democrat Ilhan Omar DENOUNCED Over Anti-Semitic Tweets AGAIN
Democrat Ilhan Omar DENOUNCED Over Anti-Semitic Tweets AGAIN. Omar tweeted "it's all about the benjamins baby" which was seem as an anti-semitic reference to jews being greedy or using money to control politics.While it is important to point out that regardless of being a democrat or republican you can criticize Israel without being an anti semite, it is odd how often the new progressive, far left Democrats use certain tropes to make points.The new far leftist and progressive Rashida Tlaib have been accused of using stereotypes and offensive tropes in the past which leads people to believe that maybe it isn't on accident.
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Controversial freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar is once again in the news for offensive tweets.
This time, many people are saying that statements she's posted online are anti-Semitic.
In fact, she retweeted a man who was criticizing her for being anti-Semitic, saying she may as well just call them hook-nosed.
Now, many people said maybe she just doesn't read these tweets or know what's going on, and perhaps that's fair.
You may remember during the Covington incident, she actually tweeted a defense of a hate group known as the Hebrew Israelites before shortly deleting it.
This time, though, she's got the ire of Democrats, Republicans, and Jewish advocacy groups, and some Democrats are calling on Nancy Pelosi to denounce her anti-Semitic tweets.
In fact, this isn't the first time she's been accused of anti-Semitism.
Today, let's take a look at exactly what's going on with Ilhan Omar and what people are saying and why they're so angry.
But before we get started, make sure you're following me on Mines at Mines.com slash TimCast because we're going to be building out a digital newsroom for our channel, Subverse.
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The first tweet in question posted just the other day at 7pm from Ilhan Omar.
She said, it's all about the Benjamins, baby.
Many people were immediately offended because it would seem like she's implying that Jewish people are either only interested in money or are using money to control politics, part of an anti-Semitic conspiracy or just an anti-Semitic stereotype.
In fact, Majid Nawaz of the Quilliam Institute responded by saying, You promised during elections not to support a boycott of Israel.
After you won, you supported a boycott, too.
You said Israel has hypnotized the world and later apologized.
Now you've casually done it again with this tweet.
I don't know.
Maybe you're just a raving anti-Semite.
A Democrat from Florida tweeted.
There is no place in our country for antisemitic comments.
I condemn them, whatever the source.
To suggest members of Congress are bought off to support Israel is offensive and wrong.
The comment was highlighted in a story by the Washington Post where they say, Jewish House Democrats urge Pelosi to denounce Ilhan Omar for hateful tropes in tweets.
Two Jewish House Democrats, alarmed by what they view as anti-Semitic comments from new Muslim colleagues, are urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants to denounce the divisive rhetoric and take action to stop it.
Reps Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia are gathering signatures on a letter asking Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, and other senior Democrats to confront freshman reps Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan by reiterating our rejection of antisemitism and our continued support for the state of Israel.
They said, As Jewish members of Congress, we are deeply alarmed by recent rhetoric from certain members within our caucus, including just last night, that has disparaged us and called into question our loyalty to our nation, the letter reads, according to a draft viewed by the Washington Post.
We urge you to join us in calling on each member of our caucus to unite against antisemitism and hateful tropes and stereotypes.
While the letter does not name Omar and Tlaib, its intention couldn't be clearer.
In fact, Jewish lawmakers in recent weeks have huddled privately to discuss what they should do about their new colleagues who openly criticize Israel and have made insensitive comments about Jews and Jewish Americans.
The last straw came Sunday night, when Omar suggested in a tweet that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy only supported Israel for campaign donations.
When people asked what Omar meant by McCarthy's motives being all about the Benjamins, she tweeted APAC, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, An influential pro-Israel lobbying group that has spent millions sending lawmakers on visits to the Jewish nation over the years.
And as they mentioned, it's not just Democrats.
We have this story from The Hill.
GOP leader urges Democrats to call out anti-Semitic tropes.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday called on Democratic leaders to speak out against anti-Semitic language after Rep.
Ilhan Omar sparked backlash with a tweet suggesting that a pro-Israel lobbying group was buying off lawmakers.
Anti-Semitic tropes have no place in the halls of Congress, McCarthy tweeted.
It is dangerous for Democrat leadership to stay silent on this reckless language.
The Republican added that one of his greatest honors is leading new members on a bipartisan trip to Israel.
And while it is surprising to see both Democrats and Republicans uniting over this issue, it's not surprising when you see a Jewish advocacy group calling on Omar to apologize for her statements.
AJC, or the American Jewish Committee, tweeted, Elon M.N., suggesting that a Jewish organization is buying off American politicians, is both demonstrably false and stunningly anti-Semitic.
American politicians are pro-Israel because Americans are.
Apologize.
AJC included a screenshot of a tweet from Omar where she responded to a question about who she thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel by saying AIPAC.
Her tweet was in reference to the major pro-Israel lobbying group.
The story was actually made much worse because Ilhan Omar retweeted someone who was criticizing her because I guess she didn't read the tweet, which is something she's done in the past.
Yasha Arli tweeted, Congresswoman, do you not realize what you are saying here or do you not care?
And he links to the Wikipedia entry for stereotypes of Jews.
He continues, the Congresswoman has retweeted this tweet.
Joshua Zaitz said, And I know exactly what the congresswoman meant.
She might as well call us hook-nosed.
laments Israel's anti-democratic shift, and doesn't regard the country as especially central to my Jewish identity.
And I know exactly what the congresswoman meant. She might as well call us hook-nosed.
And you can see here, Elon Omar actually retweeted this.
Bhatia Angar Sargon tweeted, please learn how to talk about Jews in a non-anti-semitic way.
Sincerely, American Jews.
And Clinton responded, co-signed as an American.
We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in antisemitism.
But what may be the most alarming is Elon's response, that it was exciting.
This from CNN.
Elon Omar says it's exciting her controversial views on Israel are sparking debate.
They say Omar of Minnesota is defending her controversial views on Israel as they come under scrutiny in Washington, telling CNN that it is not surprising her positions are generating attention and that she finds it exciting to be sparking debate.
It's not surprising.
I think it is actually exciting because we are finally able to have conversations that we weren't really willing to.
Omar told CNN on Tuesday.
There are a few things that do need to be pointed out.
different lens about what peace in the region could look like and the kind of difficult
conversations we need to have about allies.
There are a few things that do need to be pointed out.
For one, you can criticize Israel without being an anti-Semite.
You don't have to be pro-Israel if you're Jewish.
And I think it's fair to say that a lot of what Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are critical of is Israel's political actions, their governmental actions.
However, I think when you see how she's framed things repeatedly, as well as Rashida Tlaib, it's fair to say that they at least do have some negative stereotypical ideas about Jewish people.
As Batya said on Twitter, you can talk about these issues in a non-anti-Semitic way.
Now a lot of people have criticized the criticism, saying simply because they're making references about the Israeli government doesn't mean they're anti-Semites.
But that's a bit unfair too.
Because people often talk about the cultural sensitivities of other areas, of other regions.
Donald Trump recently was criticized for capitalizing the world trail in one of his tweets when he was talking about Elizabeth Warren because people felt like he was referencing the Trail of Tears.
So if you're going to be concerned about the cultural sensitivities of other nations based on the capitalization of one word, I think it's also fair to point out that many people are going to be offended when you tweet things about only wanting money.
Or having control over governments because you just want the money.
Or in the instance of Rashida Tlaib, who insinuated, in a sense, that Jewish people have dual loyalties.
This is part of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people care more about Israel than the country they're actually from.
We can see in this story from Haaretz, U.S.
Jewish groups strike back at Rashida Tlaib, tell us more about dual loyalty.
Jewish groups denounced a tweet by the Palestinian-American Democratic congresswoman in which she bashed senators supporting anti-BDS legislation, They forgot which country they represent.
So ultimately, I do think people try to find whatever victimhood they can.
I don't think Rashida Tlaib was trying to play up an anti-Semitic trope.
I think she was making a point about supporting a foreign ally more than your own country, which Republicans have done, which anti-war Democrats have done and activists have done.
You are allowed to be critical of other countries without being assumed to be an anti-Semite.
But there is the question, how many grains of sand make a heap?
If you're not familiar with the phrase, it means, as you slowly add grains of sand to a small pile, at what point does it become a pile?
Is it one grain?
Is it two?
And the reason I bring this up is it's analogy to, how many times does Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib need to accidentally infer something that may be an antisemitic trope?
But I also want to point out the rise of antisemitism in the Women's March.
The Women's March had millions of women marching in D.C.
and across the country, and it's been embroiled in a scandal because the women at the highest levels believed in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
And this is reported by the New York Times and Tablet Magazine.
So it's not hard for me to believe if progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are willing to stand alongside known anti-Semites, that other progressive congressmen will probably also hold these views.
And then when you see them repeatedly making statements which are being construed by many as anti-semitic, I'm gonna have to lean towards, I think they probably hold these views.
Again, I do think people stretch, they stretch things out, they try to find victimization where they can, and it's probably not always apt, but at a certain point, I think you need, at a certain point, you're gonna see you've got a heap of sand.
That they've said things over and over again.
That they've made false statements.
I mean, Elon Omar defended a known hate group.
The Washington Post ends by acknowledging the anti-semitic tweet dug up from Elon's past, saying, Omar has found herself responding to antisemitism accusations before.
Last month, she acknowledged that she unknowingly used an antisemitic trope after a 2012 tweet surfaced in which she said Israel has hypnotized the world.
May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.
Omar had initially said she didn't understand why American Jews would be offended by that statement, which critics argued evoked ugly Nazi conspiracies about Jewish people's powers to hypnotize the world.
She then backtracked and apologized after a New York Times columnist explained to her why Jews could find it offensive.
And she later expressed regret while on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, saying she had to take a deep breath and understand where people were coming from and what point they were trying to make.
Omar made no apologies Sunday night, but she did accept an invitation from Clinton, one of her critics, to talk about anti-Semitism.
And that's essentially the point I'm making about Grains of Sand.
When you can pull up a tweet from 2012 where she calls Israel evil, A lot of people are going to assume that all of these different statements she's make are pointing in one direction.
Not just at Israel, but at Jewish people in general.
But I do think it's fair to point out people will try to find victimization where there is none.
But let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
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