Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, one of two Muslim\nwomen elected to Congress in the Blue Wave of 2018, is feeling the heat,\nrecently succumbing to pressure to apologize for tweets that the political\nestablishment deemed anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Omar committed the unpardonable sin of suggesting\nthat the United States government\u2019s often indulgent attitude to the State of\nIsrael might be influenced by political contributions by the lobbying group\nAIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In reality, there was nothing counter-factual or\nanti-Semitic about her remarks and she should never have needed to apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
To suggest that a lobbying group might exert undue\ninfluence on the political process hardly qualifies as a \u201canti-Semitic trope\u201d\nor some insidious conspiracy theory. The corrosive, corrupting influence of\nmoney in politics is a sad fact of life that extends far past the boundaries of\nAIPAC\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ferocious response to Omar\u2019s comments could be seen as\nperverse confirmation of the very point the freshman representative was trying\nto make. Given how meekly Congress responded to blatantly racist comments by\nwhite nationalist congressman Steve King of Iowa, it\u2019s hard to imagine what else\nbesides angry donors could have motivated the political machine to react so\nswiftly to what were comparatively mild statements compared to King\u2019s usual\nbrand of bile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should be noted that AIPAC often finds itself at odds with the politics of mainstream Jewish Americans and seems more closely aligned with the interests of right-wing Christians who believe that the existence of Israel (and its ultimate destruction, I remind you) are essential to their insane end-times prophecies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AIPAC\u2019s favorite tactic is to suggest that any criticism\nof them or of Israel is nothing but simple anti-Semitism, one step removed from\nforcing Jews to wear yellow stars while living in ghettoes. This mirrors the\nblatant demagoguery of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Demonizing those\nwho simply oppose you and your policies is chapter one, page one of Authoritarian\nDemagoguery 101. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
AIPAC has been leading the charge to criminalize the\nBoycott, Divest, Sanction movement, a grassroots effort to hold Israel\naccountable for its policies and actions toward its own Palestinian citizens.\nBy seeking to criminalize any advocacy for a boycott or other action against\nIsrael, AIPAC has been openly making war on the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me make things as clear as I can. Israel is a country,\njust one of nearly two hundred on Earth, and one that claims to be a Western-style\npluralistic democracy in the Middle East. Claiming that label does not give it\na free pass from the rest of the Western world, but rather creates a standard\nof behavior that many in the West, including in the United States, feel the\ncurrent government of Israel has failed to meet. It is not anti-Semitic to\nexpect Israel to meet that standard or criticize the country\u2019s leaders when\nthey fail to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is no more anti-Semitic to criticize Prime Minister\nNetanyahu\u2019s policies than it is racist against Latin Americans to criticize\nVenezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro for his government\u2019s many failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Netanyahu\u2019s government and AIPAC want the world to\nsee them as an avatar for Judaism across the world and portray any slight specifically\nagainst them as another example of the persecution of Jews throughout history,\nusing the bludgeon of \u201canti-Semitism\u201d to silence any and all criticism of both Tel\nAviv and AIPAC and any dissent from their point of view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the United States is Israel\u2019s friend and ally, and we\nare, that means we are a friend to the people<\/em> of that nation, all\nof them regardless of their faith<\/em>, and regardless of which party or\npoliticians are currently in power. Criticism of Netanyahu and his government\u2019s\npolicies is not an attack on Israel itself. To equate the BDS movement with\nterrorist groups or Muslim nations that refuse to recognize Israel\u2019s right to\nexist is pure authoritarian demagoguery and needs to be called out as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To complain that AIPAC\u2019s influence over United States\nforeign policy is not always in our nation\u2019s best interest and not sufficiently\ntransparent is not an attack on Israel\u2019s right to exist. It is, instead, a conversation\nwell worth having and long overdue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, one of two Muslim women elected to Congress in the Blue Wave of 2018, is feeling the heat, recently succumbing to pressure to apologize for tweets that the political establishment deemed anti-Semitic. Rep. Omar committed the unpardonable sin of suggesting that the United States government\u2019s often indulgent attitude to the State … <\/p>\n