The House voted today on a resolution. It was initially meant to reprimand Ilhan Omar (Minnesota-D), a newly minted Representative and part of the very loud, very brash, self-righteous group of young guns who joined Congress last month. What passed was a milquetoast measure that condemned all forms of bigotry. While this must have been a feel-good, pat-myself-on-the-back sort of moment for those who voted affirmatively, it’s not much different from Trump’s response to Charlottesville, where he proclaimed that “there is blame on both sides.”
In a very short time, Omar has drawn attention to herself, albeit not in a very desirable way. A tweet she posted four years ago surfaced earlier this year:
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel
After first attempting to dismiss criticism, she finally acknowledged that she might have unknowingly perpetuated hurtful anti-Semitic tropes. She was sorry, at least for the choice of words if not the actual sentiment. She was sorry until February 10, 2019, when she tweeted:
“It’s all about the benjamins baby”
She followed it with “AIPAC!”, just in case it wasn’t clear enough. Naturally, she was once again in the eye of the storm for deploying one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards in history. Again, after first attempting to defend her post, she tweeted that “Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes” by way of apology. Her defenders excused her by saying that she was new to politics, but she had set off the spidey-sense of many Jewish Americans. Something that was tweeted four years ago? Perhaps issued unadvisedly in the heat of private political discourse. But she is now an official representative of a congressional district, one that contains both a large Somali-American constituency as well as a large Jewish-American one. Her duty is to represent all of her constituents, not just the ones who agree with her, and it didn’t feel like that was what was happening.
On February 27, 2019, during a panel discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after stating she was sensitive to how certain stereotypes and using certain words could be hurtful, she concluded with: “So for me, 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.” Granted, she didn’t specify which people or which foreign country, but in the context of her preceding statements, it was clear that she was once again falling back on an anti-Semitic trope: Jews have a greater allegiance to Israel than to whatever country they are a citizen of. The event was followed by condemnation, both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, Jews and non-Jews. It was the third strike, the straw that broke the camel’s back. Representatives Jerrold Nadler (New York-D) and Jamie Raskin (Maryland-D), Jewish Americans, and Cedric Richmond (Louisiana-D), an African American, drafted a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism formally, indirectly reprimanding Omar for her repeated forays into anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Omar responded predictably. She accused her colleagues of giving Islamophobia a pass, and claimed that she was being targeted because she is a Muslim. The House Democratic party leadership, to appease Omar’s defenders and the caucus of young guns who threatened revolt, broadened the language of the resolution in the hours before the vote to condemn anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and all forms of bigotry. Without doubt, a resolution condemning bigotry of any stripe or color is laudable. But as Doug Collins (Georgia-R) remarked shortly before the vote, “What makes you feel good doesn’t always heal you.” Ted Deutch (Florida-D) spoke emotionally, saying “We are having this debate because of the language of one of our colleagues, language that suggests Jews like me who serve in the United States in Congress and whose father earned a purple heart fighting the Nazis in the Battle of the Bulge, that we are not loyal Americans.” The good news? The measure passed 407-23. The bad news? The measure passed 407-23.
After all the Sturm und Drang of the previous week, Omar has learned nothing from the exercise. Her reaction upon approval of the resolution was to issue a joint statement with Andre Carson(Indiana-D) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan-D) calling the measure historic, saying “It’s the first time we have voted on a resolution condemning Anti-Muslim bigotry in our nation’s history.” She still refuses to look in the mirror and acknowledge the bigotry within herself. Her statement was a slap in the face to Deutch and every other Jewish American who were maligned by her insinuations. She thinks herself bold and honest, calling out Trump for his racist rhetoric and ugly bigotry on Twitter. Perhaps she should be bold and honest about her own.
BaddoBaby 