The Rush to Judge Ilhan Omar
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Anonymous
Deceit, yet again. PP (and Omar) criticized the nature of Congressional support for Israel and the nature of responses to criticisms of Israel and the US government’s support for it. There’s nothing about Jews controlling Congress there at all. |
Anonymous
She outright tweeted that AIPAC (Jewish) money has paid for our Congress to promote Israel over the US. If you don't get how that exact statement connects to propaganda used to fan the flames of the Holocaust then I don't know what more to tell you. |
Anonymous
She also outright apologized for those comments and after talking with her constituents said she understood and wouldn’t do so again. |
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Site Admin Online
She said that support in the Senate for Marco Rubio's bill that would allow state and local governments to punish supporters of BDS was "was all about the Benjamins" and later said that AIPAC was the source of the Benjamins. Do you deny that AIPAC has used its financial muscle to influence Senators in favor of this bill? Do you deny that this bill puts Israel's interests ahead of the rights of US citizens? |
Anonymous
Nothing that she said is factually incorrect. |
Anonymous
Jeff, she's the one making the charge, she therefore has the burden to show that 100% of the support in the Senate was due to money from AIPAC, since she is the one who made the assertion that it's *ALL* about the money, and that the money is from AIPAC. Since her claim is factually false on its face and does not represent reality, it is therefore simply the old antisemitic trope that Jews control the world through money. |
Anonymous
| I am sick of hearing every criticism of Israel or those who demand unconditional support for Israel recast as an anti-Semitic “trope.” It is largely simply an effort to silence criticism or debate. Omar has the same right to speak out as every other member of Congress, including older Jewish members in their 60s and 70s. |
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Site Admin Online
Her claim is factually based if not 100% true. It may be hyperbolic, but in terms of how politicians express themselves, not unusually so. In any case, she apologized. You are obviously, and understandably, bothered by statements that reflect age-old prejudices against Jews. I agree that everyone needs to be sensitive about their language and I think it was appropriate for Omar to acknowledge this and apologize. That said, where do you stand regarding the bill she was protesting? Do you support infringing on Americans' 1st Amendment rights in order to protect the interests of Israel? |
Anonymous
Israeli law allows all Jews to obtain Israeli citizenship. But very few American Jews actually do this. And no Jewish member of Congress (or Jared Kushner) has Israeli citizenship, though this is a lie that is often repeated. I have an Italian-American friend who was able to obtain Italian citizenship because his grandfather was an Italian citizen. I wouldn't jump from this one case to say that Italian-Americans have allegiance to another country. But back to the topic, I agree (as a Jewish American) that Ilhan Omar has said nothing offensive or out of bounds. |
Anonymous
1. AIPAC does not give campaign contributions. Its not actually a PAC (the "PAC" stands for Public Affairs Committee, not Political Action Committee). 2. Support for the bill on BDS is NOT all about campaign donations, but reflects broader pro Israel politics, such as the concerns of constituents. It does not help that BDS A. Singles out Israel B. BDS orgs are ambiguous about whether they support a two state solution, or consider the very existence of Israel to be "occupation" C. BDS supporters often express antisemitic sentiments (much more overtly than Rep Omar's comments) |
Anonymous
The bill itself does not band BDC support - it merely deconflicts federal law from state law relative to the commerce clause. It is still up to states to pass it and courts to determine its constitutionality (and note, not all State BDS laws are the same, so some may pass constitutional muster while others do not) So I think the claim that the proposed federal law limits 1st amendment rights is in fact disingenuous. I note that despite that plenty of moderate Democrats, pro Israel Democrats, and Jewish Democrats opposed the bill. Some of the very same people are among those very troubled by Rep Omar's remarks. The constant attempts to redirect from Omar's hateful speech, to the question of the BDS bill or middle eastern politics, reminds me of people on the right, whom, when one calls out hatefulness by Trump, try to change the subject to the impacts of illegal immigration. Just as one can oppose illegal immigration and denounce racist dogwhistles, one can oppose the BDS bill and denounce antisemitic dogwhistles. Similarly just as it is important that Dems denounce blackface by Ralph Northam, DESPITE racism from Republicans, it is important that we denounce antisemitism from the left, despite antisemitic dogwhistles from Republicans. We are a coalition, we are based on principles that do not allow for this sort of thing. And to note, the sensitivity of Jews to antisemitism on the left is in part because many of us are very aware (sometimes through personal experience or that of friends or relatives) of what is going in Europe, on the continent and in the UK, where antisemitism from the far left has rendered Jewish life less and less tolerable. One need only look at the folks who tweet positive response to AOCs tweets on this matter, to see people eager to import Corbynism here. |
Anonymous
I am very tired of criticism of particular statements that do not even reference specific issues in Israel being said to be about criticism of Israel. I was criticizing the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza before Rep Omar was born. I opposed the (then newly formed, a coalition of Herut and other parties) Likud party before she was born. MOST of the American Jews having issues with her statements have criticized the govt of Israel and are NOT Likud supporters. Though one of our arguments - that an end to the occupation of the West Bank would strengthen Israel's standing in the world, is undercut when things like this are defended. |
Anonymous
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So, it seems as if the delay of the vote of this resolution is because it didn't have enough support from the Dems to pass. They insisted on making it more broad.
Interesting. |
Anonymous
There's no reason not to make it more broad. |
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Site Admin Online
AIPAC does give campaign contributions directly, but it influences where campaign contributions will go. As I pointed out earlier, AIPAC's website even has a page to recruit people to donate $5,000 per election cycle: https://www.aipac.org/act/congressional-club In addition, many of AIPAC's board members control PACs that give contributions. Regardless of why it is supported, the anti-BDS bill allows governments to punish Americans who exercise their 1st Amendment rights. I agree with you that money is not the only motivator, but it does play a role. There are supporters of Israel such as Viktor Orban who are anti-Semitic. Should we pass laws to punish those who support Israel? |