Far Left Democrat Slammed AGAIN Over "Anti Semitic" Comments
Far Left Democrat SLAMMED AGAIN Over "Anti Semitic" Comments. This may be the third or fourth time that Ilhan Omar has been condemned for comments that were considered deeply offensive by the Jewish community. Recently she deleted several tweets that outraged democrats and republicans alike. But now she has made another gaffe after calling out people with "allegiance to a foreign country."This is a common trope that targets Jewish people, implying they do not care for their home countries only Israel. The reason this is called out specifically is that the US provides aid to dozens of countries and Israel makes up only around 6% of total foreign obligations.We dont see the far left or other leftists calling out the US for funding Ethiopia or Kenya, so why is it only ever Israel? In January Rashida Tlaib, another far left Democrat, was called out for similar comments.This issue doesn't even divide conservatives and liberals as both parties and factions have been quick to call out the comments as offensive and misguided.
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Ilhan Omar is once again in the news for making statements that have been deemed anti-Semitic by her critics.
This may be the third or fourth time she's made a controversial statement.
Recently, she had to apologize after Democrats and Republicans condemned statements she's made, as many people found them to be anti-Semitic.
Now, there are people defending Omar, who are criticizing the critics, saying, simply for calling out Israel, you are not anti-Semitic.
But then we start to get into an interesting double standard with the left.
When Donald Trump issued a moratorium on certain countries, people said that it was racist.
But certainly you can criticize a nation without being opposed to the people.
And that's actually the argument made by the left.
Today, let's take a look at exactly what Ilhan Omar said and dig into whether or not you are an anti-Semite for criticizing the actions of a country.
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From NBC News, Rep.
Ilhan Omar blasted again for what critics call anti-Semitism.
Some Jewish leaders said the Democratic freshman revived an old trope about divided loyalties among Jewish Americans.
Speaking Wednesday night at a forum at a Washington, D.C.
bookstore with fellow freshman Rep.
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the Minnesota Democrat said she fears everything they say about Israel is construed as anti-Semitic because they're Muslim.
She said that prevents a broader debate about Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
Omar and Tlaib won their seats in November, becoming the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
The comments, which Omar made when the questions turned to her previous criticism of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, were first reported by the website Jewish Insider.
Some Jewish leaders said she then revived an old trope about divided loyalties among Jewish Americans when she said, I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.
She added, I want to ask, why is it okay for me to talk about the influence of the National Rifle Association or Fossil Fuel Industries or Big Pharma and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy?
Steve Hoonigs, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement that he was appalled by her suggestion that Jewish Americans have divided loyalties between the U.S.
and Israel.
He said her comment continues the unacceptable pattern of the Congresswoman deploying anti-Semitic rhetoric when speaking about Jewish Americans' involvement in our nation's democratic process.
Omar's spokesman, Jeremy Slevin, said Friday that Omar reiterated at a Wednesday event the remorse she feels for her comments last month and the pain she knows they caused.
As she said in her apology, we must distinguish between criticism of a particular faith and fair critiques of lobbying groups.
He added that she has consistently spoken out about the undue influence of lobbying groups for foreign interests of all kinds.
Hunig said he met with Omar last week and found her new comments particularly insulting, because he had showed her a photo of the grave of his cousin who died in France fighting for the U.S.
in World War II to illustrate the proud patriotism of Jewish Americans.
Our community is exasperated by Rep.
Omar's unfulfilled promises to listen and learn from Jewish constituents, while seemingly simultaneously finding another opportunity to make an anti-Semitic remark and insult our community.
There are a lot of really interesting points, and I think the first thing that needs to be brought up is that, yes, Omar is correct.
You absolutely can criticize Israel and certain military or governmental actions, or the actions of individuals, and not be an anti-Semite.
There are good points to be made as to why people are calling her out for her statements, and we'll get to those.
I also want to point out the same is true for Donald Trump's moratorium on travel bans.
People called it a Muslim ban.
They called it racist.
But targeting specific countries for their ties to terrorism or other criminal activities does not make you a racist.
You are targeting the nations.
So you can criticize Israel, you can criticize Saudi Arabia or wherever else and not be a racist.
But there is some more important context before moving into the other side of that argument.
On February 11th, we saw this story.
Omar apologizes for controversial tweets on Israel Lobby after backlash from Democratic leaders.
Pelosi, House Democratic leaders denounce Omar for promoting anti-Semitic tropes.
And just last week, Rep.
Ilhan Omar deletes the controversial tweets that drew charges of anti-Semitism.
It was not immediately clear exactly when or why the tweets were taken down, but users on Twitter began to take notice on Sunday.
Democratic Rep.
Ilhan Omar is deleting her anti-Semitic tweets, but deleting tweets doesn't change that she still supports the anti-Semitic BDS movement to boycott and delegitimize Israel, tweeted Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman for the Republican National Committee, referencing Omar's support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which is critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
In response to the statements made by Ilhan Omar, AIPAC tweeted, The charge of dual loyalty not only raises the ominous specter of classic anti-Semitism, But it is also deeply insulting to the millions upon millions of patriotic Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish, who stand by our democratic ally, Israel.
And a top Foreign Affairs Democrat rebuked Ilhan Omar just the other day.
In a lengthy and blistering rebuke late Friday, Rep.
Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Omar's remarks amounted to a vile anti-Semitic slur and called on the Minnesota Democrat to apologize.
I welcome debate in Congress based on the merits of policy.
But it's unacceptable and deeply offensive to call into question the loyalty of fellow American citizens because of their political views, including support for the U.S.-Israel relationship, said Engel, who is Jewish.
Her comments were outrageous and deeply hurtful, and I ask that she retract them, apologize, and commit to making her case on policy issues without resorting to attacks that have no place in the Foreign Affairs Committee or the House of Representatives.
It is also important to note that Rashida Tlaib was with Omar when she made these statements, and Tlaib herself has been accused of doing similar things.
This story from January 8th.
US Jewish groups strike back at Rashida Tlaib, tell us more about dual loyalty.
Jewish groups denounce a tweet by the Palestinian-American Democratic Congresswoman
in which she bashed senators supporting anti-BDS legislation.
They forgot which country they represent.
Again, I will stress, you absolutely can criticize Israel or any other country without
being racist or anti-Semitic, but there is a really good reason why people find these
comments specifically to be anti-Semitic.
There's not just one country that US politicians support in terms of foreign aid.
There's actually many.
And in terms of the amounts of foreign aid Israel receives, it's actually not that much relevant to the entire pool of aid given around the world.
It's not even the most any one country receives.
This is explore.usaid.gov.
Showing $50 billion in total obligations for the fiscal year of 2017.
While Israel is one of the largest recipients of foreign aid, mostly from the Department of Defense, it is not the largest.
However, there is some criticism we can look through this.
First, we can see that Afghanistan receives $5.7 billion, mostly from the Department of the Army.
Now you can criticize that because it likely has more to do with the U.S.
invasion of Afghanistan as opposed to actually funding governmental programs or allowing them to engage in their own defense.
And we can see similar things with Iraq.
They both receive more money than Israel.
Now again, that could be due to the U.S.
military actions in those countries.
But there are some other countries we can bring up.
How about Egypt, for instance?
Egypt receives about 1.5 billion dollars in 2017, mostly from the U.S.
Department of Defense.
And we don't hear Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib talking about what Egypt is doing.
They're critical of Israel specifically.
They don't talk about South Sudan receiving nearly a billion dollars, Ethiopia receiving over a billion dollars, Kenya receiving over a billion dollars, and all of these other countries who receive foreign aid in a similar fashion.
The reason people are being critical of what they're saying specifically is that yes, there is an anti-semitic trope that Jews are more loyal to Israel than their home countries, and it frequently emerges among conspiracy theorists, but more importantly, while Israel does receive a lot of money more so than many other nations, why aren't they talking about all the other countries that receive substantial income?
Why are they talking about this cluster of nations, which combined make way more than Israel does in terms of foreign aid, or the fact that Israel only amounts to about 6% of the $50 billion in total obligations?
It's an extremely complicated situation, don't get me wrong.
But when you have people on the left claiming that Donald Trump is a racist for his moratorium because he barred certain countries from their citizens traveling to our country, you have to wonder why then they can claim they're not being racist when they specifically target Israel and ignore all of these other countries.
And I also want to point out other issues.
Activists in California at a protest I attended were chanting, make California Mexico again.
You have people marching through the streets waving Mexican flags.
Where is the criticism for those people with dual loyalties?
It seems like whenever we hear about issues with who the politicians actually represent, they point the finger to Israel.
You have to then wonder what they mean when they specifically single out Israel.
Don't get me wrong.
I recognize that there are things going on in Israel that are absolutely wrong.
The settlements in the West Bank are entirely questionable, and the international community has repeatedly criticized Israel for this.
This is why I can respect someone on the anti-war left or the left criticizing Israel in this fashion.
But I have to wonder why it's always so asymmetrical.
Where's the criticism for Central America, or for Central Africa, for the actions taken in those countries?
This is such a good example of tribalism.
Because when Trump criticizes certain nations and restricts their citizens from traveling to the U.S., Trump supporters are called racist.
When Ilhan Omar criticizes Israel, she's called anti-Semitic.
Welcome to politics in 2019.
Welcome to identity politics.
But there is some criticism to go the other way.
I want to make sure I cover this story as well.
GOP's anti-Muslim display likening Rep Omar to a terrorist rocks West Virginia capital.
Angry arguments broke out in the West Virginia Statehouse on Friday after the state Republican Party allegedly set up an anti-Muslim display in the rotunda linking the 9-11 terror attacks to a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota.
One staff member was physically injured during the morning's confrontations, and another official resigned after being accused of making anti-Muslim comments.
The display featured a picture of the World Trade Center in New York City as a fireball exploded from one of the Twin Towers, set above a picture of Democratic Rep.
This is why I like to stress that nobody's innocent.
There's nuance here.
Do I think Ilhan Omar is trying to be anti-Semitic?
No, but I think she's certainly hyper-focused on one aspect of foreign policy and not paying attention to the bigger picture.
And this is why she will be accused of anti-Semitic.
I can certainly recognize as well that there are people on the Republican side who put up offensive pictures and liken Omar to terrorists.
No, simply because you're a Somali refugee or Muslim does not mean you are in any way related to the individuals who perpetrated 9-11, and I think it was wrong for them to make that statement.
That's just unfair.
And all that mudslinging does is make things worse.
If you want to be critical of Ilhan Omar, by all means.
But at the same time, we should call out the people who are putting up these kind of meme posters acting like she in any way had anything to do with 9-11.
It's important to realize that the actors on 9-11 were politically motivated.
Yes, their religion maybe played a factor, but that doesn't mean everyone of that religion is bad.
Simply because certain Christians have committed acts of terror throughout history doesn't mean that all Christians are bad.
We have to make sure we separate the act from the ideology, for the most part.
We can absolutely recognize that certain ideologies have negative aspects of them.
Let's criticize the negative aspects, respect the things that are good, and that's how we can move forward.
Take the good things from some ideas, get rid of the bad ideas, and that's progress.
Unfortunately, it seems like most people are more interested in playing tribal politics.
They just want to win, and they're not willing to hear out the criticism.
But let me know what you think in the comments below, we'll keep the conversation going.
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