Rep. Ilhan Omar has committed rather more than a "microagression."
She has quite deliberately chosen to pick a BIG fight with an extremely well-organized national lobby, AIPAC,--with whom I happen to sympathize, lest there be any doubts-- for no particular reason save that she has an exaggerated opinion of her own national importance based on a single election and the color of her skin and hijab.
Rep. Omar's responsibility is--or should be--to attend to the needs of her immediate district. Instead, she has suddenly assumed that her election to a very LOCAL congressional district has granted hehr a national platform to criticize America's Jewish population and to conclude that their concern for the fate of Israel represents some form of "dual-loyalty" that makes their citizenship somehow suspect.
Well, I somehow suspect that Rep. Omar's obsession with the condition of "Palestinians," to whom she has no real relationship insofar as I can tell, represents some form of strange "dual-loyalty" in and of itself.
Rep. Omar should first be loyal to her constituents, and forget about Israelis, Palestinians, Somalians, and the like.
48
Beautifully written column. Thank you, Michelle.
19
I may be a conservative... and I may not be Jewish, but I am appalled by not only the hate speech of this highly opinionated no-nothing, but by the rush of Liberals to come to her aid AND the apparent FEAR felt by the leadership - especially Mrs. Pelosi - to put her in her place.
What she said (and has been saying all along) is anti-Semitic - pure and simple. It is as inappropriate for Ms. Omar as a sitting member of Congress to utter such words (even if privately she holds them) as it is for David Duke to voice his hate speech (for which he has been pointedly and rightfully censured in the court of public opinion and the MSM.
Instead of passing a watered-down piece of legislation that begs the question as to why it was being brought to the floor - at this particular moment - Ms Omar should have been pointedly rebuked by the Speaker and removed from her committee assignments..., just as Steve King was.
39
Being Jewish means being persecuted for being Jewish even if you don't think of yourself as Jewish.
I am Jewish. I've been in America for over 30 years. I love this country and it's my home.
However, when people tell me I have dual loyalty, it means they don't trust and no matter what I do. It's no longer whether I'm American or what I feel about America or Israel. They made the decision for me. They made me have loyalty to only one country that will never question who I am. They decided for me that my loyalty must reside only with Israel.
26
We should be assertive with Israel, making it clear that we owe them nothing. People of all kinds of origins have sentiments for other countries, but that doesn't mean we have to listen to them. But when you can't help but put in stereotypical insults, you show your true stripes, your own divided loyalties. And we are justified in tuning you out.
7
As a young, new inexperienced Congress woman, Omar would be better off staying off twitter and avoiding controversy. Whether or not she is anti-Semitic, she is being labelled that way and it will make it harder for her to build alliances and advance issues. We already have one person in the White House tweeting half baked ideas, she doesn't need to join him.
19
I remember freedom fries. That's when Republicans changed the name of French fries to freedom fries because France did not support the US War in the Middle East. Attacking the Congresswoman is absurd. She has every right to speak her mind.
25
Over the past decade, Benjamin Netanyahu has done an outstanding job of ensuring that nobody in the U.S. can criticize the Israeli government without having to endure claims of anti-Semitism. Yet according to an American Jewish Committee poll taken last fall, only a third of U.S. Jews approve of the Trump administration's policy toward Israel, while almost 60% favor the establishment of a Palestinian state! Doesn't that tell you something?
Rep. Omar may have phrased her criticism carelessly, but she's not wrong that Israel exerts an influence over U.S. policy far beyond what any other country enjoys, even other allies. That isn't a crazed Illuminati conspiracy theory, it's plainly evident. I think it's also telling that the Republicans, who have convinced themselves that the Thought Police are eradicating conservative opinions at every college campus in the country, are quite happy to see an entire side declared unacceptable heresy in a debate that is so critical to our national security.
35
I’m flabbergasted. This talk about tropes is a red herring. let’s talk about the real issue ... the current leader of Israel. Let’s talk about that guy who came over to address a joint session of Congress without a White House invitation, that guy who keeps setting up illegal settlements on the West Bank and trying to pull us into a war with Iran. That guy. A lot of Americans don’t agree with his politics. it’s a shame that a very strong pro-Israel lobbying organization is pushing his views hard here in America and trying to conflate anti-Semtism with not liking Netanyahu. Perhaps most upsetting is AIPAC’s heavy lobbying for a very un-American anti-BDS law that is a slap in the face to American values. I’m highly insulted that my distaste for him can somehow be construed as anti-Semitism. All this talk about tropes is just a sideshow as far as I’m concerned. Let’s get the UN to create a true democratic nation over there comprising Israel, Lebanon, West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights. One woman, one vote (a nod to today’s international day of the woman). Anything less I’m afraid is doomed to failure.
36
It's unfortunate that the Jewish population seems to believe that words spoken in feigned indignation of ridiculous comments made by somebody like this woman are not dangerous, this is exactly how the past revisits the present.
The state of Israel is our ally and it took a Republican to acknowledge this fact on the world stage, he may not be the most politically correct man but he does the types of things that should indicate to a learned ethnicity such as the Jewish people that it's actions that a leader takes that matter more often than the words of those who claim to support you that matter in the end....
3
The truth can quite often be such an offense.
18
Political support for Israel is based on the reality that this tiny nation is our only real ally in the Arab world and any member of Congress should understand that fact.
19
“It’s maddening to watch men who’ve flirted with outright fascism … act like sanctimonious defenders of the Jews.” Right you are. Then why give them the opportunity – on a silver platter – to do so? Not to put too fine a point on it, but Omar, who is new to public life, ought to just shut up for a while, listen, and learn the job. Then, when she speaks, she might speak with a tempered sense of responsibility that comes with the job: the job of being the people's representative – ALL of the people – not an ideologically driven activist.
36
Really unfortunate that Michelle Goldberg follows in the Bret Stephens tradition of misrepresenting what others say by characterizing Representative Clyburn's statement as "minimizing the Holocaust" when commenting on his observations regarding Ilhan Omar's refugee experience. It is patently obvious he is distinguishing between her personal, direct experience and the secondhand experience when one comments on what happened to someone else. Nowhere does he minimize the Holocaust; at worst he references the difference between feeling your leg severed in an accident vs. describing the pain someone else felt in the same circumstance. For Goldberg to pretend otherwise is to commit one of the micro-aggressions she ostensibly laments. Left unchecked I imagine she will find a way to identify Clyburn as an honorary Iranian ayatollah.
Having reviewed Omar's original comments so far I do not see that she specifically attributed demands for allegiance to Israel as originating with Jewish-Americans (or Christian evangelicals). It was not faith-based but grounded in a vague notion as somehow Israel deserves a special place in American foreign policy because it is Israel. Those who see Israel as shifting across time from a haven for the oppressed to a reprehensible oppresor promoting an apartheid state perpetuating heinous abuse of Palestinians are to be vilified. If her comments had been made about Mexico would we see all this fuss? The Democrats have proved her point about allegiance.
46
"This is not the moment for Democrats to tear themselves apart over race and religion...."
Then stop doing it with columns like this one! You're a Democrat and a liberal, right? (me too). But the internal voice and tone of this column is far more a defense of Israel than advocacy for the Democratic Party and its ideals that you (and I) believe might save this country.
You might easily have framed a stronger argument commentary around your excellent last line, "... there's still only one political party in America where there is a safe place for hate." (The Republicans, that is.) Instead, you chose to make it largely about Israel, even bringing up the Holocaust. Can't you see, therefore, why this unfortunate trope of "dual allegiance" keeps coming up?
34
"she needs to stop giving ammunition to those who want to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism." For most conservatives and Ivangelicals, anyone refusing to proclaim Israel is the best nation on earth is anti-semitism.
22
Microaggressions? Did you actually use that word? Arrrghhhhhh! By itself, that airy-fairy word invalidates whatever point(s) you're trying to make.
Next, you'll want safe spaces for anyone and everyone whose feelings get hurt by public debate.
29
Those who seek offense will find it.
42
I am so very, very tired of non-Jews telling me that Omar's comments are not anti-Semitic. If I were black and asserted that a particular lawmaker's comments were racist, would all these people feel comfortable insisting to me that the comments weren't racist? Didn't think so.
39
The defense of Omar will wither, after she just finished trashing Obama and his presidency. Crickets are coming.
22
I think she was Frankened. As in, the Dems overreacted to make a point that will bite them in the end.
28
"Omar is right..." David Duke
18
I don't know what is in Omar's heart. I don't know if she is truly an anti-Semite, but the influence of pro-Zionist donors is a legitimate issue in American politics, and we should be able to question it.
The bizarre result of the power that this money buys is billions in aid going each and every year to a relatively wealthy, developed nation while American infrastructure continues to rot. Anyone who even questions the status quo is called a Nazi or an anti-Semite. The attempts to silence anyone who wants to have a frank discussion about this reality will only play into the hands of those who really are anti-Semitic.
47
The false claims of antisemitism against those who oppose the Israeli government's violation of the Palestinians, suppresses criticism of its human rights violations in the short run, but undermines the fight against antisemitism in the long run. It eventually catches up with you -- when you make false claims, at some point people simply ignore what you say.
Some have taken umbrage at the question of dual loyalties, some claiming as Thomas Friedman did, that he "always put America first" -- a Trump-sounding claim. His answer is quite different than putting ethics first. After all, how can anyone plausibly claim the oppression of the Palestinians is ethically correct?
Notice that in answer to "It's about the Benjamins", the critics wouldn't trot out friendly political scientists proclaiming that money doesn't influence government policies? Who would believe that?
The dilemma for the Democrats is keeping everyone within a big tent. Hence, the bland resolution Pelosi insists isn't about Omar. While it mollifies apologists of the oppression, it is a big victory for Omar and her young supporters. It signals that the Democrats are moving away from blank check support for the oppression to reflect this growing sentiment among its base, especially the young.
With Trump aiming to draw supporters of the oppression to his party with the mainly symbolic move of the embassy offices to Jerusalem, it's now only a question of when this shift happens -- the writing is on the wall.
24
Omar's words were not a "microaggression." That term in itself is worthy of derision, but what Omar said was something the modern World should not consider tolerating: racism. She can apologize all she wants, but is her mind changed? Will she participate in the legislative process without that frame of mind affecting how she votes for things like aid to Israel and Palestinians? Sale of equipment to Israel? When someone apologizes, you can generally read their body language and tell whether it is a sincere apology, regretting what was sad as wrong -- or regret at being caught -- or regret at being forced to apologize -- and whether there is a tinge or more of resentment. I did not see a sincere apology. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing, and we should forgive her for saying this ... this time. But reconciliation is more than forgiveness. Reconciliation requires some form of atonement, or of changing. Have we seen that from Omar? I certainly have not.
12
All the nuances of microagressions aside, I agree with the concluding statement of the author, and rather wish that she could have led with the idea, so that people who only read part of an article would still have read this truth.
"Then the voting on the anti-bigotry resolution started. Every Democrat present backed the resolution, but 23 Republicans voted against it. It was a reminder that while Democrats sometimes fail to live up to the ideals of multiethnic democracy, Republicans don’t seem to recognize those ideas at all. Omar needs to do better, but right now there’s still only one political party in America that is a safe place for hate."
10
" Half of me is angry at her. The other half is furious for her."
Interesting. What will happen when those two halves come together and meet in the middle?
6
She has surpassed AOC in fame, which was the point. She instinctively made her statements one by one and then watched the conflagration.
7
Well done OpEd by Ms. Goldberg, I applaud her for doing a deep dive into this latest incident. I believe many of her observations were spot on.
Rep. Omar's comments were certainly inartfully expressed, but should not be dismissed in a wholesale manner. Like the subject of racial injustice issues, the subject of Israel (the state, not the Jewish people) is a third rail that we are often unable to have constructive dialogue about without accusations of anti-Semitism (Bret Stephens fell into this same trap in a recent column). And there needs to be some recognition that there is a growing gap in attitude between a large group of American Jews & Israeli Jews.
The "Benjamins" comment could be applied without controversy to our relationship with a number of countries, or internal groups like the NRA. Rep. Omar will likely get coached by more senior, experienced members. But we should expect to see more growing pains as congress finally becomes more diverse faster than in the past.
Lastly, I see a NYTpick commenter claiming that the Palestinians were 3 times offered their own state, but the offers were met with hostility toward Israel. While that may have been true 20+ years ago (and I question the "3X"), that was a different era. Israel had some honest and good faith brokers (Ehud Barak among them if memory serves) and one Palestinian group decidedly did not (the insidious Yasser Arafat). The sides have now seemed to swap roles.
5
I feel that Ms Omar being a Muslim carries some deep rooted internal pain and feelings which she is apt to express in ways that have caused a furore although at first glance one would think it had shades of anti semitism although I did not see it that way, thoughtless comments from a very new politician learning the ropes and mores of public life? She must realise that any controversial "tweet" carries weight with eventual consequences. She is young, articulate, intelligent, and hopefully this has given her food for thought when tempted to make her thoughts and feelings public. I could never understand anti Semitism as in hate towards the people having grown up with Jewish neighbours and friends, families just like ours.
4
Someone with authority better step in and control these new kids or the party won't be in one piece by 2020. Its getting a bit out of control.
8
Why all the moral equivalency?
Wrong is wrong - are her words any less damaging because others played the Anti-Semitism card? If my child misbehaves should I accept his excuse that he didn't know better because his peers behaved in the same way? Omar is there to represent her constituency - not to pick a fitght with the only (albeit imperfect) democracy in the Middle East. if Pelosi doesn't get a handle on her party 2020 is lost- and no one can lose a national election like the Democrats.
11
Congress should pass a law that bars all federally elected officials, including the president, from using Twitter during their tenure - period.
7
In an objective ranking of prejudiced congressmen, she would not be near the top, and certainly not near the top if we ranked all congressmen and not just the living or presently serving. She is not in the same ballpark of being inflammatory as Steve King. Some of what she said can be taken as anti-Semitic, but it is not the sort of naked and explicit anti-Semitism that open and unrepentant anti-Semites show in entire speeches directly on that subject.
I am sure that some of her colleagues are trying to talk to her about how to say what she wants to say without offending people, or at least people who do not deserve to be offended. And there are others who are hanging on her every word looking for something to be offended at. It is a minor miracle not to offend people who are determined to be offended.
There have been and probably are real anti-Semites in Congress, and there are many other ugly prejudices festering there. We should advocate letting her decide who she wants to be by private reflection rather than public pressure. In any case, her views deserve to be represented as are many other views we may find repugnant. Her constituents will decide whether they will be.
11
This whole episode is literally fiddling while Rome burns. All the wasted brainpower deciding how prejudiced a largely powerless junior representative is and how bad her antagonists are. Wake up. The president of the U.S. is a wannabe dictator. He may refuse to exit the Presidency if he loses the next election which he will call "fixed". We do not have the luxury now to temper our castigation of Omar. We need to decide how to preserve the Republic in the face of the threat from Trump. I think this will take up all the editorial brainpower we can muster. Such a dispute is frivolous and misguided in the face of the dangers we face.
13
I'm so proud of this little black, African, Muslim woman who is so courageously speaking her mind and truth in Congress, saying things others know to be true but are terrorized to utter out loud, fearing the onslaught of AIPAC and ADL and how quickly they can kick them out of Congress come election season. There are already voices saying a primary challenger should be found to remove Rep. Omar. Well, bring it on AIPAC, we are not afraid of you anymore. The truth will start to spread and fear will fall. Americans will begin to learn about the injustices carrying out against the Palestinians and the blind US support for Israel will be cut back and pressure to correct course will rise, which will eventually be beneficial for Israel as well as Palestine, because the current American-enabled course Israel is on, of stealing more and more Palestinian land and suffocating the brave Palestinian population under the terror of blockades and occupation is not sustainable. Every occupying power eventually corrodes its own spirit and ends up falling and losing, so the sooner Israel realizes this and corrects course towards justice, freedom and equality for Palestinians, the better off both peoples will be. US correction of foreign policy is a prerequisite for this to happen, however, so soldier on Rep. Omar and Tlaib, soldier on brave and proud women.
22
Democratic Party values diversity. That’s the reason why Ms. Omar has got this golden opportunity to raise her voice. Based on the principles of the Democratic Party and the country to which she is a citizen, she needs to set certain standards so that the door can be wide open for the other Muslim women in her party. Under no circumstances she should shut the door once for all through her actions. Hope she understands.
3
you lost me right away in the second paragraph: "Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel..."
5
Not to excuse Omar's comments---but where is the outrage when Trump lets loose with a frequent racists tirade---there hasn't been an ethnic group---including Jews---that he hasn't used a racists label---I should add, is anyone bothered that newly elected females to congress seem to be under particular attack by conservative media and Republican legislators.
14
Lost in the idea that "it's ok to criticize Israel" is the fact that for many anti-semites criticizing Israel is the easiest way to express their hatred. For these people it isn't just that Israel needs to give up the West Bank, or recede to the 1948 borders, it needs to ultimately disappear. Certainly, another Holocaust awaits that event. Let's be clear, Omar has never said "I support Israel, so long as she gives up the West Bank settlements". Like the Arabs who declared war on the 1948 boundaries, she is clearly of the ilk who will never accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state or a place for Jews to live where their existence might be snuffed out on a whim . It is too bad she knows so little history and shows so much arrogance.
13
If the Congresswoman were to be hit by a speeding car today, she has done more good than any existing Congressman, none of whom have the guts to speak the truth as she has done. It is shameful beyond words that we as a country, and our so called leaders, cowardly in face of the Israel lobby, have enabled the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their land and the brutal occupation which followed.
16
Why show kindness, empathy, or understanding to Omar Ilhan. The woman showed her true colors and prejudice against Jews and Israel. She was warned and had her chance and apologized for being insensitive and then goes on and does the same thing over and over again. The woman is a hard core Islamist and is using her position in Congress to further her own agendas. Has anyone asked her where she stands on Sharia law and FGM which is quite prevalent in her community. To be kind to this prejudiced woman is to be cruel to millions of American Jews who have fought and contributed to make America a free and Democratic nation. There should be no room in our Congress for someone that demonizes Jews and Israel like an Ilhan Omar. This i no small matter. It isn't about left wing politics but about propagandizing hate by a public official and Michelle Goldberg giving her a pass isn't out of order.
6
I've read 20k words about this controversy this week in the NYT and heard 0 words about this in real life.
10
As Obama once said, you can put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig. Ilhan Omar markets in anti-semitic tropes reserved only for Israel and its supporters. False claims of AIPAC paying off politicians, even though it does not, contribute to her hurtful rhetoric. There are many other examples, such as falsely claiming that Jews ask for “allegiance to Israel.” Ilhan Omar, herself, takes donations from CAIR, which has ties to terrorist activity. All the effort to tie oneself in knots, as MG does, to excuse the continual hateful and hurtful rhetoric merely highlights the extremist position that has poisoned the well of the Democratic party. President Trump has been extremely supportive of Jews and Israel. I will support him in 2020.
9
Ms Omar:
that is enough mischief for your first two months in Congress, now shut up and do your job for the people that elected you.
leave the tweeting, the commenting, the dog whistling to the guy in the White House.
8
I'm fascinated by the efforts to cover for Omar. She recited two classic antisemitism tropes—that Jews are motivated by money and that they are disloyal to their country—repeatedly and systematically. She said that she prayed to God that the world would see how evil Israel was. Making an issue of the response is besides the point. Omar is unfit to serve in Congress and ought to be expelled. I think eventually she will be.
13
What I find interesting is she has nothing to say about the thousands of Muslims killed and driven from their homes in Myanmar, tens of thousands rounded up in china and put in concentration camps. Thousands of women and children killed in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, not mention hundreds of thousands killed in Syria. How about so many political prisoners in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. if the problems in Israel were between Sunni and Shiite Muslims i expect she wouldn't care about that either. Oh yeah I forgot, these other atrocities don't involve Jews.
11
Please stop defending Ilhan Omar. She is anti-semitic.
11
So it is possible to be both a victim of anti-Muslim bigotry AND an anti-Semite.
7
We now have our third NYT's column on consecutive days going after Rep. Omar.
Are you unable to find any opinion writers to bring some balance to this issue?
13
Speaking truth sometimes hurts. Labeling words that are true as 'anti-Semitic' is an immediate freeze upon free speech. In July of 1967, the Israeli military killed 34 American Sailors and seriously wounded more than a 100 more. The jets that rained rockets upon that ship, the USS Liberty, saw the American flag and fired anyway. Had it been any other country, Congress would have declared war. Criticism of Israel was countered with the trope that those speakers were 'anti-Semitic' for it was all just a mistake. Google the USS Liberty and note how many of the Israeli pilots saw our flag. But be careful finding the truth...if you speak of it you will be labeled an anti-Semite. And everyone knows you don't want that.
.
18
I can't believe James Clyburn could so blatantly diminish Holocaust survivors. It's appalling and displays a total disregard for history.
Are the Democrats trying to reelect Trump?
8
I agree with Ms Goldberg, one party makes a home for unsavory opinions: anti-semitic hatred is safely at home in the Democratic party, at least if you embody a diversity trifecta like Ms Omar.
5
Here’s an interesting question to ponder: Is it possible to be a strong supporter of Israel and an anti-Semite? I think I’ll ask some right leaning Americans.
4
Sorry Michelle- it’s true that criticism of Israeli behavior and policies is fair game. But anti-Semitism is about denying and rejecting Jewish power and rights including the right to self governance in a secure nation-state, which is what Zionism is all about.
7
The National Rifle Association controls the votes of a majority of Congress through its monetary clout. So does AIPAC. Is Ms. Omar allowed to note the monetary clout of the NRA and other lobbies, but not AIPAC?
The Holocaust was aimed largely at the elimination of Jews, and this was an immense crime, but this does not provide permanent immunity from criticism for Israel. The idea that criticism of Israel and Zionism is anti-semitism is absurd. This is a movement for Palestine rights. The civil rights movement in America wasn't a matter of hatred of whites, and the fight for Palestinian rights is not a medieval hatred of Jews.
I keep hearing how insensitive it was to say that it's a matter of the Benjamins, baby, but this was merely a quote from rap music and to twist the criticism in this way is a gross distortion.
The over-the-top attacks on Ms. Omar provide massive evidence that she was right in pointing out the huge power of the Israeli lobby to silence critics. Somehow it's anti-semitism for Ms. Omar to speak against Israeli oppression of Palestinians, but perfectly okay for weekly bombast against Islam in which people scream about how Muslims are trying to impose Sharia law in America and thus the need for a Muslim Ban.
The sanctimonious blather against Ms. Omar on CNN, MSNBC, and in our major newspapers should bring a sense of shame to Americans. The orchestrated attacks on Ms. Omar are evidence of an oppression of a group of Americans who dare to speak.
26
Thoughtful piece and it's main point very clear.
"Omar needs to do better, but right now there’s still only one political party in America that is a safe place for hate."
A side note: Palestinian/Arabic peoples are Semites.
There was nothing that Omar said that wasn’t true. Her true crime was to call out Zionism and Israel’s unconscionable treatment of Palestinians.
She has nothing to apologize for.
M
15
The right in both Israel and the US have changed dramatically since 9/11, and NOT for the better.
James Reston, in his memoir "Deadline" said that in the 50s through the 90s we "overlearned" the lesson of Pearl Harbor and that every bad actor that came down the pike, from Stalin to Saddam Hussein was invariably branded "another Hitler."
Well, we're doing the same thing now. Stoking fear and using it as a political bludgeon against anyone and everyone who raises a hand and asks, "Aren't there two sides to this story?"
That's how the two-state solution died.
Lots of excuses ... Best stick to the topic.
Even her tweet yesterday ... was bad optic's.
She is going to be a problem for the DEM's .. Especially, since she is being supported by other new Dem's.
5
The important thing around all this brouhaha is to find out if Rep. Omar is antisemitic. Reading the article and the whole discussion there seems to a consensus that she is.... Why do not we ask her to answer the basic question: Do you think Jews have and should have the same rights as other citizens?
2
Jewish progressives like Michelle Goldberg are going to face a serious choice in the coming years. If the Democratic Party continues to appease and coddle anti-Semites like Rep. Omar and turn increasingly hostile to Israel, she and others who share her views are going to have to decide--like British Labour Party Jews already have done-- whether their progressive politics or Jewish identity matter more. I suspect many of them will continue to hang on and hope against hope that what they see with their own eyes isn't happening.
5
While I appreciate Goldberg's measured tone, and thank her for her fairness, there is something that she said that needs more emphasis - Omar speaks from a position where she has more sympathy for the Palestinians than the Israelis. Think about that. When was the last time ANYONE in congress felt this way?
But this is also dangerous to the status quo.
The status quo around the halls of Washington is unequivocal support for Israel. And Omar is challenging that. You can site all the dog whistles you want to throw shade at this fact, but it doesn't change the awful fact that whatever Israel decides to do is fine by the US.
And as many here lament, the Democrats are now mired in a mess of their own making. Let me tell you, Omar - while maybe not being as "precise" as she should have been - speaks the truth. Jews do not hypnotize, but money sure does. Jews may not be in a conspiracy, but the PACs certainly are. We have a perfect storm here because the pro-Israeli, pro-Zionist groups can yell "Antisemitism" and don't have to face the fact that money, influence, and power are far older and far more nefarious than prejudice against the Jews - it's truly one of the only things that is older!
So we on the left, as been said here before, will eat our own while the other side laughs at our wringing of hands. Have you ever noticed how THEY never seem to be upset when their side does this?
14
Michelle, you *know* why those Republicans voted against the resolution. It’s becaise it became an “All Lives Matter” catch-all, when we wanted a specific resolution condemning a specific and unique kind of hatred that has cyclical effects every 70-100 years. 74 years post-Holocaust, it’s rising again. We needed specifics, and the Democrats chose to get intersectional. Giant fail.
3
When the Nazis in Charlottesville marched through the streets carrying tiki torches shouting racist, bigoted slogans, President Trump was asked to comment on it. He said there were, "...some very fine people on both sides..." If the President of the United States is going to publicly support Nazism like that, why is there such a fervor over what Ms. Omar said? Was there a bill passed by the Republican-controlled House denouncing antisemitism and hate speech of all kinds over what Trump said?
7
Here’s the problem...yes the alt-right is Anti-Semitic, and they certainly bark plenty of horrible anti-Semitic things. And yes we can’t forget Pittsburgh. The rhetoric from the alt-right is bad, maybe even worse than the left.
HOWEVER - if you look around the world today, by far the biggest audience to Anti-Semitism for the masses, the place where it most likely could and does stick with many many people, is on the LEFT. And the anti-Jewish intimidation, and violence, is very real, particularly in Europe. And it almost always comes under the guise of, “well we’re just anti-Zionist”. Observant Jews in France live in absolute fear, not from the alt-right, but from the left.
And ILHAN OMAR and friends are doing their absolute best to import that brand of bigotry (Corbynism) across the pond to the US. And it WILL stick eventually if we keep ignoring it and making excuses. Yes, Omar is a huge threat...stop making excuses for her. The time to nip this in the bud is NOW.
7
I think her comments were against Israel policies and influence in the US Congress. I don’t see anything anti-Semitic here.
9
If anyone can explain how statements like “Israel hypnotized the world” and that anyone who supports Israel is paying “allegiance” to a foreign power can be interpreted as a criticism of Netanyahu and his policy, let me know. It’s certainly not obvious.
Here’s a thought experiment that also relies on age old tropes of racial hatred. Would anyone even for a second pretend that saying something like “the black controlled government of South Africa is shiftless, lazy and prone to steal” should be viewed as a criticism of ANC policy rather than a recycling of racist stereotypes meant to marginalize, hurt or enrage?
So let’s not patronize Congresswoman Omar and instead treat her like an adult. After all, even before her election to the House she was saying these things and had met with delegations of Jewish Minnesotans who explained things to her. Either she’s a very slow learner or she really believes these things. Neither brings her any credit. That the KKK’s David Duke agrees with her should by itself lead to some introspection.
If nothing else, one needs to ask of her: why the obsession with Israel and Jews? You would expect that as a successful Somali refugee (with many Somali constituents and few if any Palestinian Arabs ones) she would use her position on the Foreign Affairs Committee to shed light on Somalia's desperate situation and work to ameliorate it. Alas, no. But why is that?
9
Other columnists have been interesting and useful on this subject but this is the best analysis I've seen. Meanwhile, mostly unnoticed in the US, here in Belgium there has been something far more disturbing: At Carnival in Aalst -- pre-dating New Orleans Mardi Gras by several hundred years ---- there was a float that protested rising prices with huge puppets of Jews sitting on money bags, along with a rat. The mayor of the town called it "innocent' and the federal interior minister declined to condemn it, ducking: https://bit.ly/2C912nm and
4
Sorry I am not going to give Rep. Omar a pass on this. These comments are not new for her. In 2012, she tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” This is not a comment about Israel's place in world politics. It is a rehashed anti Semitic statement about Jews ability to control the world. We have been hearing this from the Arab world in carefully released statements that are reinventions of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (still a big seller in Egypt) and Henry Ford's The International Jew. If she wants to vote against Israel in Congress, that is her right. If she wants to blame Israel for all word events ( and ignore the human tragedy of the Arab world on its own people) she should expect push back.
13
Ilhan Omar should spend more time speaking about the constant human rights abuses in muslim countries where women in particular are treated like inanimate objects.
11
Dear my fellow Jews,
Please stop defending blatant anti-Semitism. What Ilhan Omar said was anti-Semitic. She never expressed ANY criticisms of the State of Israel, but merely of Jewish Americans. As for the "issue" of AIPAC, it contributes very little to American politics, Americans have a pretty much natural tendency to support its Israeli brethren. Ilhan Omar simply represents the freshmen class of the Democratic Party's new anti-Semitism. Please don't let your politics allow for Corbynization of the DNC.
Sincerely,
A concerned Jew
5
A few years ago some victims of violence tried to expand the Black Lives Matter movement to All Lives Matter. They were condemned for shifting the focus. Isn't that what the Congressional Democrats did with their shift of a condemnation of Antisemitism to one against all hate speech?
7
Omar gets rid level of criticism because the media has built her up as a national leader. Don’t pretend like the Republicans you mention do not get criticism for their anti-Semitic statements—they do. National leaders who utter such tropes are more dangerous and must be more heavily rebuked. This is Omar’s third time uttering such tropes. I gave her the benefit of the doubt the first time. I was worried the second time. After the third time, the rational conclusion is that she believes such tropes and has a problem with Jews. I find it funny and terrifying that any suspected, for example, anti-black animus results in one being shunned from public life, while anti-Semitism results in the media running to defend you.
4
The truth is that the hateful right wing, stung by the presence of young, intelligent women of color in the Congress, are scrutinizing their every move. They quickly distort what they do and say to rile up the yahoos in America. They ignore the many daily transgressions of the incompetent and ignorant racist in the White House, but seize upon everything and anything to make these women look bad.
6
Well, David Duke has rushed to the defense of Ilhan Omar, calling her "The most important member of the US Congress".
https://www.dailywire.com/news/44367/former-kkk-grand-wizard-david-duke-omar-most-ryan-saavedra
It took a Democrat, Ilhan Omar, to finally drive a wedge between David Duke and Trump! Well done, Omar. Well done, Dems.
2
I don’t think the ‘it is everybody else’s fault but the bigot’ excuse is going to fly.
5
No, Michelle, the problem is not microaggression. The problem is that many on the left, including Jews, have encouraged the ignorant youth to attack and often slander others based on group identity. Now the youth are increasingly turning on Jews. Did you not realize that Jews would be lumped in with the oppressors and those benefitting from white privilege? Many recent graduates have never heard of the Holocaust and view Jews with suspicion because Jews have done well as a group. No, the problem is not one of microaggression, it’s one of reaping what you sow.
6
The Congresswoman could have been more sensitive to the impact that her words would convey. She is far more correct in her accusations of an American political litmus test where Israel is concerned. She was quite incorrect and, yes, anti-Semitic in her suggestion that “Benjamins, baby,” oil the engine of our unique relationship with Israel.
Now turn back the page to 2015. It was then that the House Speaker, John Boehner, invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to formally address a body of Congress in which he would, in a baldly racist and unprecedented breach of international protocol, ask Congress to defeat President Obama’s nuclear deal (with five other international signatories) with Iran.
The Republican Congress, by embarrassing the sitting president—with his Muslim name—squarely aligned American foreign policy as indistinguishable with that of another foreign sovereign—Israel. It was this unnecessary political shaming of a black president with a Muslim name that the Congresswoman was bringing front and center: that any elected American official must—beyond any doubt—definitively prove an unshakable allegiance to Israel because it is an isolated island in a sea of hostile and unstable nation-states that seek its annihilation. We should be Israel's friend and ally—but not when Israel boldly ignores the cries for respect nd freedom from those whom they publicly oppress without the slightest remorse, knowing that “America has our back.”
Are we hypocrites?
6
The United States has always had problems with uncomfortable allegiances. We fought a revolutionary war against the British Empire and its American Tory supporters to found the country. We early suspected that Irish immigrants held secret allegiances to Ireland and the Pope; then Italians, to Italy and the Pope. Some German Americans actually pledged allegiance to the Kaiser (WW1) and later to Hitler. Then we imprisoned Japanese Americans, whom we suspected of being secret allies of Japan, during WW2. And so it goes. I must divulge here that my DNA shows me to be 90% English, and I love the English language, and I must admit a fondness for England over many other countries. However, I have always thought of myself as American and pay taxes here and vote in our elections. As a young Mexican-American was telling me just yesterday, she would like more Americans to adopt children from other countries, so they can grow up to be Americans too. It is a lovely country.
I don't really expect justice in this world, not when there's a cry that 50 Muslim nations and 20 Islamic nations and one, count them, one Jewish refuge is somehow not fair, but I do expect an acknowledgement of the right of Jewish American survival. I don't ask the world to love Jews; I don't even ask America to tolerate Jews beyond an acknowledgement that they too deserve a fair chance to live and work in the US. But when you start making special rules for the behavior of Muslim government officials it's intolerable. I give it a couple of weeks before Ms. Ohmar opens her mouth again; what are the Democrats going to do then? Let her throw shoes at the next Jewish Ambassador giving testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee? (see Elliot Abrams). How much is enough? An ex-friend of mine remarked that the Jews of South Africa were being treated badly, but after all, they've done so well in the past, they somehow deserved it. I think that's what you're saying about Jews in America: your empathy with the Palestinians is so deep and lyrical that Ms. Ohmar must be allowed to continue spewing venom. But only about Jews, of course; they're a least favored minority in the Democratic party.
2
Three days, three editorials attacking Omar's words.
6
So... we in the US can never criticize the influence of AIPAC on both political parties or the State of Israel without this particular hammer coming down? Just checking.
5
Michelle,
I've spent decades on your side of the ideological fence but now respectfully disagree with Congresswoman Omar's critics.
Israel and Israeli lobbyists have stepped interfered in American politics in a manner that makes me very uncomfortable as an American reformed Jew. Examples of this involvement were clearly articulated in Thomas Friedman's last column. These grievances include the Israeli Prime minister's meeting directly with a republican congress that bypassed President Obama, and legislative attempts earlier this year to punish corporations that support BDSM.
Congresswoman Omar is right to point out that these practices are harmful, and the NYT Daily podcast on February 19, 2019 made a brilliant argument to highlight AIPAC's success with labeling Israel's critics as anti-Semites.
I find it painfully hypocritical that NYT reporters and columnists can question Israel's outsized influence on US politics, but we feel a need to publicly shame Congresswoman Omar raising the same issues. The business about singling her out for the use of so-called tropes is difference without distinction. Where was all of this anger over anti-Semitism in your columns after President Trump repeatedly spread conspiracy theories involving George Soros? Is it different this time because Congresswoman Omar is a dark-skinned Muslim woman?
As a fellow member of the tribe please do not pursue this misguided defense of Israel and Jews in my name!
8
Speaking of not conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, more attention should be paid to history, specifically the Haavara Agreement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavara_Agreement
I do understand the sensitivity to anti-Semitism felt by a people who suffered the most heinous crimes against humanity ever perpetrated by one ethnicity upon another, the holocaust. I thank and love the Jewish people who have had a tremendous influence on my life, and the lives of the oppressed. What Omar is doing is calling attention to the influence AIPAC has on our elected officials. Prof. Tony Judt once remarked that when Israel behaves badly it is bad for all Jews. It is also bad for American. When all debate about Israel has to be approved by AIPAC it is bad for all involved. Democrats, you can't legislate away people's prejudice. Lead by example.
4
Nonsense. She is being criticized for the dual faults of being Muslim and of criticizing Israel.
7
Tabulating the "recommended" votes in this comment section, there's a slight majority insisting that Congresswoman Omar's comments weren't anti-semitic, despite being insensitive.
Tropes are ambiguous; I know this because I'm an English Prof. But unfortunately, AIPAC is about the Benjamins, though stating it that way is willfully ignorant and glib.
But, there's also been a history of disproportionate reporting in the West that favors Israel over Palestine, at least up until the 2000s. See Daya Thussu's scholarship from Westminster University, which builds off of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman's Manufacturing Consent.
It's plain to see that a Muslim woman is being pilloried for identifying a militaristic, quasi-fascist relationship between the US and Israel, American right-wing "interests" requiring a foothold in the Middle East.
The NYTimes—and the US in general— needs to slow its roll with their hyperbolic, PC-focused calling out. Omar is essentially right in identifying a regime of oppression perpetuated between Israel and the US, and for too long Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people have gone underreported compared to say, Omar's alleged microaggression.
5
Rep. Omar needs to take an afternoon and either go to a Holocaust museum and spend the entire day there with a guide explaining the horror of what the Jewish people experience or take some time, sit down and watch the movie, Schindler's List. Maybe it'll make a difference?
2
Antisemitism is rising like a flame across Europe again. The left has been at least as, if not more, responsible, and no one will point to one elephant in the room: demographics v. votes. Labour have a huge investment in the Muslim vote. There are at least 6 million Muslims in Britain but only 300,000 Jews. So, Jeremy Corbyn felt safe last year saying "British Zionists don't get British humour, even if they've been here all their lives." Called out on raising this most ancient antisemitic trope, he said, Well, he meant Zionism in the purely political sense. As if, of the 300,000 Jews in Britain, maybe 1,000 don't believe Israel has a right to exist or that the only safe place for Jews is a Jewish state, a belief Corbyn, ironically, confirmed. But losing the Jewish vote isn't much of a penalty in the UK compared to the Muslim vote.
The huge influx of Muslims into Europe brought in a population that is, by and large, reflexively antisemitic. At least 30% of the attacks on Jews in Europe now are carried out by Muslim youth.
It was only a matter of time before the American left saw the gloves slowly coming off and here we are, watching a US Muslim politician, raising the same not too subtle shades of ancient hatred.
The irony is this may convince some apathetic Jews of Israel's importance. They keep thinking they're safe, and then find out they aren't. Apparently, they never will be-except in a Jewish state.
No wonder there are only 1.5 million Jews left in Europe.
5
"with the country in the hands of a repugnant white nationalist, this is not the moment for Democrats to tear themselves apart over race and religion."
Exactly.
Cong. Omar needs to realize that there are a lot more Jews on the Democratic side of the aisle than on the Republican...I think there are 2 in Congress and none in the Senate, and the Republican party is NOT friendly to Muslims, unlike the Democratic party which has elected several people who follow Islam. You don't bite the hand that feeds you, and you don't disparage those who will protect you.
Omar has done more damage to the Democrats than all the Republican efforts over the last 2 years. If she recognizes that and is determined NOT to damage it further, she will do what it takes to fix it. I hope she does.
1
Instead of discussing America's blanket support for a violent ethno state, brimming with illegal nuclear weapons, in perpetual war with her neighbors and engaged in a 60+ year campaign of ethnic cleansing, we are discussing whether Ilhan Omar's statements may have upset neocons like Elliot Abrams, who have the blood of millions of people on their hands.
Israel is smiling.
5
Jews are a tiny minority in the US and around the world and yet are enduring (yes, still so) 2000+ years of physical danger. They need special protection. Corbyn in the UK, Trump in the US, and Omar, know that due to sheer numbers they have more to win than to lose by whistle-blowing anti-semitism. Bigotry against Jews endangers lives and the Democratic party must stamp it out whether from Farrakhan or Omar, whether from ignorance or malice.
5
This should have been perfectly clear: Omar's past and recent pronouncements about Israel had not even an atom of antisemitism. She spoke about Israel and its supporters, not about Jews. If those few cherry-picked quotes, carefully selected and curated from the last 7 years of public discourse of a public figure, are all her detractors have on her, then I am 100% confident that she holds no ill will towards the Jews. Everything she has said has been said before by others, including Jewish figures (self-hating Jews I suppose?), and has always been regarded as legitimate arguments in the discourse about Israel. Somehow, when coming from a Black Muslim woman, they become antisemitic.
This is a sweeping triumph of the Israeli agenda of conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and even if Goldberg wishes to distance herself from this conflation and its proponents, she has obviously succumbed to it.
To be clear: political lobbies spend money in order to further their causes, promote their supporters and punishes their detractors. This is how political lobbies operate. The fact that one particular lobby happens to have a large Jewish presence does not make it immune to criticism and does make its critics "antisemitic". Those are not "tropes", those are traits of any lobby, and AIPAC cannot silence its critics by making disparaging accusations about them. It's very disappointing that Goldberg has joined this chorus.
5
Thank you, Michelle
OK. Quick math question: How many anti-semitic microagrressions does it take to become your basic aggression or even a macro-aggression? I'll give it about 2 more weeks.
2
I made a mistake in a comment yesterday that Omar couldn't be anti-Semitic because she is Semitic. Well, she is not Arab but Somali so I was wrong. Still...
The idea that anyone cannot criticize Israel without criticizing Jews everywhere is ridiculous.
It is amazing that we are watching Washington, including the press, go nuts over two or three young women newly elected to Congress while long standing racists and fascists get barely a mention.
The young Congress people bringing some new thinking, as well as some naivety, are not what is broken in our Nation.
6
not microaggression; deliberate loud aggression
6
This woman is simply another example of an ignorant, young person whose ill advised comments are due to that ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity. It’s simply that they know only facts that are consistent with their prejudices. E.G., the pro Israel lobby is powerful but so are the NRA, Teachers Unions, Drug companies and so on. Think of the Green New Deal! A treatise which is another “know nothing” document. Or, maybe, better said, “can’t add” document.
3
"They do it too" is never a good defense. If some Republicans have been antisemitic, call them out too.
But to dismissively call Omar's chilling use of antisemitic tropes "microaggressions" is to enable her, and the other antisemites of the left and the right.
These words were not accidental awkwardness as a "can I feel your hair" microaggression" is. They were the traditional "Jews control everything and are disloyal" tropes that were used to justify pogroms and extermination.
If we look at what is happening in Europe, where Jews are becoming afraid again, it is clear that there is no room for antisemitism at all.
4
The Israel lobby uses money just like the NRA, Big Pharma, FIRE, the NRA, Saudi Arabia and every other lobby. It isn't antisemitic to refuse to give the Israel lobby special treatment.
And it is primarily conservative Christians who are demanding loyalty oaths to Israel, including the attack on free speech in name of Israel in the first Senate bill of the session and the loyalty oath that cost a speech therapist her job in Texas. There's nothing antisemitic about objecting to such loyalty oaths.
4
Careful Michelle. The fight against anti semitism (which no sane person should tolerate) is being weaponized against Muslim, brown and black people, and at times to encourage islamophobia and demonize the legitimate Palestinian struggle for self determination. I ask people who criticize the congresswoman’s verbal and ideological insensitivity (as is their right) to also self examine how strongly they’ve condemned the continued and violent Israeli domination of a colonized population (sure, without falling into anti Semitic tropes) and whether they’ve supported equal rights and security for both Jews and non Jews who call Israel/Palestine home. If not you are actually complicit in brutality and supremacist thinking, I’m sorry to say. Hard to see someone’s critique of others as fair if they haven’t engaged in their own self-critique and an examination of their own double standard. And it’s simply laughable to claim AIPAC has no influence or power. We can’t have a reality based conversation if we engage in fantasy thinking.
4
To appreciate why the US and the US congress needs Ilhan Omar read this article:
https://www.vox.com/2019/2/15/18225109/elliott-abrams-ilhan-omar-venezuela
Thank you for being, Congresswoman Omar!
1
Good and fair assessment of the latest brouhaha about Ms Omar’s supposed anti Semitic comments.
I am more pro Palestine than pro Israel, personally. But I recognize anti semitism when I hear it. During the Second World War in my country of origin, Italy, I lived through my family’s efforts to protect every Jew that came our way by hiding them, providing false documents, and fighting in the Resistance against Fascism.
However I also recognize the abhorrent policies of Israel against the Palestinian people whom they oppress, just like the Nazi fascists oppressed the Jews. I praise Ms Omar for speaking out and in fact say: “ the emperor has no clothes”. But I would caution her to refrain from cheap characterizations such as Benjiamins baby, or she will diminish her important stance against what she sees a social ill, perpetrated by Israel’s policies against the Palestinian people. I am NOT anti Semite, but I condemn what Israel does and I respect and love Jews and recognize their value as human beings who have contributed so much to our civilization and who have been persecuted mercilessly everywhere.
How about drafting a resolution against racism and anti semitism in the White House, not just in the House?!
So we're to dump the First Amendment into the toilet in order to castigate messenger of Truth Representative Omar, even as whole ranks of GOP - from POTUS on down - have for generations maintained a vociferous if somewhat covert WASP-only agenda.
If hypocrisy were a fatal disease, WDC would be a ghost town.
1
Dear Michelle Goldberg - my fellow Brooklynite - I'm fond of reading your opinion comments: Ilhan Omar's Microaggression - whatever her comments I don't believe she meant them to be anti semitic - she's a child of the street - she's too young to formulate her thoughts in a way to please everybody - but, nevertheless she speaks the truth - any thoughts by anybody relating to Israel in a negative way will result in opening a hornet nest that even Nancy Pelosi can't swat to silence - what is it about Jews in America that provokes such an irrational response - Ilhan Omar is provoking Israel and its relationship to the Palestinian situation - from the occupation of the West Bank to the total control of Gaza - there hasn't been a solution since the creation of Israel in 1948 - the two state solution is amnesia to today's Israel - and America is the country ignoring the pleas and rights of the Palestinians - America is able to confront the Israelis but doing so would unleash the forces of Jewish opposition in Congress as well as in the land from ocean to ocean - those I believe are Ilhan Omar's thoughts - her feelings about having been in a refugee camp in Kenia - she relates to the pain of the Palestinians - America owes you an apology Ilhan Omar
3
I am sorry but I read the transcripts and I, like many others, don’t see any anti-semitism. No one so far has been able to show me one single sentence or word that is blatantly anti-semitic. And the Freshman might have apologized but the was forces to do so.
Maybe Im just ignorant coming from an African American Family that was knee deep in the CRs movement. But sorry I think much going on here is yall simply dont want to hear the truth about Israel and its genocidal policies.
2
Republicans and their President rush to feign identity grievance on behalf of Jews over a Muslim's poorly considered, highly insensitive remarks. Any criticism of Israeli politics is once again shut down as anti-Semitic. American Jews, fresh from the slaughter at Pittsburgh, are reminded once again that they are fair game to be picked over. A Muslim woman is hounded, her life threatened. This is who we are.
2
From Isaiah :
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
1
Liberals will happily destroy themselves. It doesn't matter that we have the MAGA Bomber Cesar Sayoc, Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson planning to kill 22 Democratic leaders and journalists, the murder of Heather Heyer, or the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. Illhan Omar deserves twice the blame of any of them for her microagressions.
What is worse is that Omar has made a myriad of anti-semitic remarks. She could have apologized... but she did not. She could have tried to engage the Jewish community to humble herself and educate herself on Jewish tropes.... but she did not. The Dems could have pushed forward with the Anti-semitism initiative.... but the didn't. This is all bad and to wash it with the thin thin veneer of a microaggression is just as damaging to the issue. Instead of Black Lives Matter.... its All Lives Matter.....
2
Anti-Semitism needs to be publicly called out, and done so loudly. There is too much politeness and excuses made. ADL where are you? People with guts, where are you? Ministers, priests, Imans, and yes rabbis where are you? It seems this particular hatred is so ingrained in the culture we’ve excused it with a tsk. It is dangerous. Wake up!
3
Nancy Pelosi sprang to action because the NEW left wing Democratic party is filled with radicals and Anti-Semites. It was a desperate attempt to save the party. Omar and Clyburn are just a few. (Clyburn's elevation of Omar's pain above Holocaust survivors was sick and pathetic). Growing Anti-Semitism has continued to reveal its ugly head for years now on college campuses across America. Jewish students have been banned from running for campus offices due to their pro Israel stance, to swastikas painted on fraternity houses. Jewish students at Columbia University going back years were ostracized within Middle Eastern studies classes by their Muslim professors. Make no mistake, this has been growing way before the Trump administration. (Columbia lost much of its' Jewish alumni donor base as a result). The Jews are fleeing Paris and now London because antisemitism in Europe has grown exponentially while the Muslim population has grown there just as fast. Make no mistake, there is no distinction among radicals between anti Israel and anti Jewish sentiment. The Democratic party understands this, and made a swift attempt to "clean up" the infiltration.
6
There is concern that the infighting in the Democratic party over issues such as this one could lead to more Republican victories. I agree, because Americans are stupid enough to vote the Republicans in. They need to be coddled by politicians because they lack critical thinking skills,
Politics is a game that must be played because we are fools.
The question here really is why does the left minimize antisemitism and treat it differently than other forms of racism and bigotry?
The left would have no issue demonizing (as well they should) racism against African America or other groups causing a person job loss and being ostracized in every way. We don't accept apologies and we deem the words that a person used to NEVER be accidental because the power of language is so strong.
Why aren't we doing that here? The criticism of dual loyalty of Jews has a history of being racist. There are plenty of ways to bring up Israel without being anti-Semitic.
We need to apply the same standard as we do to others to Omar. Why are we making excuses here?
And the shocking comments that we should tolerate her because those on the right are worse?
A Jew wearing a kipah (scull cap) does not exempt him from being punished for being a racist. Wearing a hijab should not either.
Shame om you Black caucus too. I should remind you are of the signs that used to be in the country that said "No N's. NoJews No dogs!"
This is a sad day for this country. After all we have to put up with with Trump and now the democrats can't get this right.
Help Us!
3
No organization, outside of the Republican Party, conflates anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism more than AIPAC (the American-Israeli Political Action Committee). Because of this absurd and vile "debate", I feel I must say I am Jewish (although that makes absolutely no difference) and that criticism of AIPAC, is long over due, and roundly deserved. It has turned American Middle Eastern policy into an arm of the right wing Likud party, tightening the Occupation, promoting wars in Iraq and Syria and now threatening in Iran. And what has Americans gotten from all those wars? Donald Trump (the darling of AIPAC/Netanyahoo).
3
Dear NYT:
I am a bit surprised that you do not get it, or refuse to take a clear and unambiguous stand against anti-semitism in your own leftie ranks.
Condemning every kind of hate means condemning nothing.
This is the Democrats "All lives matter" moment, and you have now demonstrated your own "dual loyalties" to partisan bickering over moral courage.
It seems that Omar and her fellow young D activists have cast a spell over the party.
And can you not reduce everything to partisan messaging?
"It was a reminder that while Democrats sometimes fail to live up to the ideals of multiethnic democracy, Republicans don’t seem to recognize those ideas at all."
Please Michelle, if you want to be a leftist political activist, please do, but don't pretend that you are some sort of moral arbiter.
3
As a non-practicing Jewish progressive liberal democrat yadda yadda yadda ..... I am deeply saddened by Ms Omar's divisive and bigoted remarks. Now is not the time for Democrats to get sloppy. Calling her out was absolutely necessary lest American Jews, one, become marginalized in the party and, worse, again become convenient targets of prejudice. Just look at the recent uptick in anti-semitic incidents in the country and let us remind ourselves of the scapegoating of Jews historically. Plus, Republicans are sure to use any schism within the party to their advantage. Oh yeah, also remind her that we are on the same team!
1
Isn't there a phrase for this sort of idiocy: "tempest in a teapot"?
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are two sides of the same coin. The animus for Trump spreads over to animus for Netanyahu. Netanyahu is the face of Israel; so by association the State of Israel suffers in American public opinion.
But, Ms. Goldberg, there is one fact that should be comforting: those of us who criticize Israel would lay down our lives to protect a Jewish person in this country from the threats of Neo-Nazis or white-supremacists.
2
Michelle you forgot to mention that Bernie Sanders' run in the primaries was rejected by party insiders, perhaps because of anti semitism. How dare an old angry Jew, possibly conceive of running a national election, that too to dethrone the anointed democratic party leader Hillary Clinton! It did not matter that our kids millennials did not care about the Jewishness of Bernie Sanders, but if he had won the democratic primary, rest assured it would have surfaced and the republicans would have milked it (like they are attempting to milk the Omar flap for the moment, temporarily).
1
This woman is a blatant racist and anti-Semite. Instead of mentioning her by name for censure in front of the entire House of Representatives, Pelosi chose to come up with a soft soap condemnation of racism in general. Democrats, liberals and progressives are great at calling out racism, misogyny, and xenophobia so long as they are going after Republicans. When it comes from their own ranks, they hide their heads in the sand.
4
Drop it, Michelle ! Drop it , Dems ! Drop it, media ! For gosh sake can we move on, please?
3
How did Omar suggest "occult powers"??? These are not microaggressions, they are statements of fact. Sorry if they offend you, but I don't want my government to financially support the illegal settlement in the West Bank. I'm glad that Omar has brought these ideas into the mainstream. As much as organizations like AIPAC have worked to make it seem anti Semitic to criticize the Israeli government or the pro Israeli lobby, it's not! Pretty smart thinking to claim the one thing people don't like about AIPAC (that they are a lobby that uses money to change policy) is an anti Semitic trope...
In 2018, the white supremacists marched on Charlottesville. Several synagogues and Jewish sites in California and Brooklyn were set ablaze. We even have a leader of The Women's March who calls Louis Farrakhan - a man who is proudly anti-Semitic - the "greatest of all time"(GOAT). Anti-Semitism, and a global hatred for America, is real. Perhaps words like "xenophobia, Islamophobia, and transphobia" are words that emanate in order to shut-up people from honest conversation that rationally recognizes that many immigrants to America come from nations that do not have high regard for individual liberty. That some Muslim women are oppressed in our United States (even forbidden to leave their homes), and that females deserve their safe spaces due to an academia that's concocted an idea of gender fluidity, giving a licentiousness to males to claim womanhood as theirs. Hopefully, the anti-hatred declaration Democrats have had to make will open their eyes to recognize that hatred exists among all people, and not everyone has some kind of inherent temperament that will appreciate freedom and good will for all. Not Ilhan Omar or all of the women and minorities elected in 2018. Neither every immigrant nor every minority member believes in advocacy for all. That's reality.
2
Dear NYT:
What a whitewash. This was the Democrat's "All lives matter" moment, and it is shocking that Democrats have decided it is ok to dilute what should have been a unanimous, bi-partisan condemnation of anti-semistism.
Condemning all forms of hate means condemning nothing.
But now let's see what Ds will do now that Omar has been recorded attacking President Obama as drone mass murderer.
Cue the audio tape: Omar: "President Obama was a killer with a pretty face, and is really not much different than Trump."
Will Democrats bury this insult, too.
3
Omar has repeatedly made comments about Jews and Israel that conflate the two.
When confronted with them she becomes defensive, attacks, and then, when finally confronted with the enormity of what she has said and done, apologizes, kind of.
The she does the same thing again and again.
Later this month she is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for CAIR.
CAIR has been found to have ties with Muslim Brotherhood, as well as close ties to Hamas and Hezbollah.
In 2009, CAIR was listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the largest terrorist fundraising operation in the history of the United States, known as the Holy Land Foundation Trial.
She is not as innocent as she pretends.
Because she is a Muslim, a black and a woman she cries that she is being attacked for these things.
She is a strident defender of all things anti-Israel and frequently anti-Jewish. The only Jews defending her, and the comments here are illustrative of many of them, are Jews who tow the left wing, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian line.
Jews, like any other group, have a right to defend themselves when attacked.
We have a Jewish homeland, our ancestral land of Israel from which we were exiled by the Romans in 70 AD.
We will not stand by while we are accused of not being loyal to America.
The Democrats caved to the tiny group of extremists identifying themselves as the "Progressive" and Black Caucuses.
Omar deserves censure.
3
Bigotry is shameful. She needs to clean up her act. But it should also be noted that there is not one House Represenative in the Republican party who is jewish, and they have endorsed a birther by the name of Donald Trump who is one step away from work camps when it comes to people from Mexico who are being dehumanized.
Is the Republican party aware that detainees are often put to work for $1.00/day in wages?
Is the Republican party aware that children have died after being separated from their parents and thrown in cages?
Is the Republican party aware that there are a lot of people in Israel who consider Netanyahu to be extremely unethical. The man has been indicted for his corrupt activities, including but not limited to bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
And speaking of breach of trust, I trust this GOP as far as I can throw them, especially when they descend on someone for antisemitic remark, after they've endorsed a birther who is also a self-proclaimed nationalist and an obvious bigot who promotes and emboldens white supremacists, the KKK, and neo-nazis with rhetoric that is the same rhetoric that was used during WWII by people who did not want our country to interfere with the advances a certain Nazi in Germany was making as he took over countries and rounded people up.
Republicans have no problem with Trump, then they should keep their mouths shut on this one and clean up their act as well.
2
Call me simple and a fool, but all I have to do to come to Omar’s defense is too see pictures of how Palestinians are now living in the Gaza Strip. It is our fear of offending Israel that had stopped us from looking and wondering and asking and demanding—that there must be a better way!
5
tropes is nonsense. dispossession of Palestinian children's land and trapping them under occupation and blockade is real. Ilhan talks the truth of politicians beholden to AIPAC. she also disproves the 'trope' that hijabis are suppressed.
2
"...but Donald Trump, speaking to American Jews last December, referred to Israel as “your country.”
You really think Trump has the same view of American Jews with Israel as Omar? You really think that?
Let me assure Ms. Goldberg and Representative Clayburn that there are people, such as some of my patients who survived in hiding during the Shoah whilr their familis were murdered, who validly undetstand your apologia for a documented since 2012 Anti-Semite & BDS supporter and virluent anti-Zionism and his comments as anti-Semetic.
Ms Goldberg doth protest too much, methinks.
People who obsessively, and publicly, criticize Israel always begin by saying that there is a taboo against criticizing Israel. Seriously. That's like saying there was a taboo against criticizing Hillary about her emails. We don't mind criticism of Israel, we see it daily. We do, however, reject any suggestion that we have an 'allegiance to a foreign country'. I would never suggest that Rep. Omar hold allegiance to Saudi Arabia over America though she bows 5 times a day towards Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
As for Rep. Clyburn, as a white guy I will refrain from lecturing the African American community on the effects of slavery and he should refrain from lecturing the Jewish community on the effects of the Holocaust. Now can we get back to saving our country from Trump?
4
The Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide started with "micro-aggression.". I applaud the Democrats for calling out all hate. And no, this is not some frivolous issue. It affects all policy. We already see what is happening at the border.
1
It's always the Middle East.
1
Oh puuuuuleeeze with this poppycock. When you have to point out things she has said as “micro-aggressions” you’re already way out on a limb in a Ridiculous Tree.
Most of us know EXACTLY what she is saying....the reason being because it is true.
No one can disagree one iota with anything the Israeli Government does without being accused of anti-semitism.
Netanyahu and his government regularly spit all over us and we’re supposed to just sit and smile for fear of being one of the accused.
This knee jerk cowtowism toward Israel has gone way too far and I congratulate her and back her 100% in her attempt to enlighten us on this issue.
3
Compare these "microaggressions" to the overtly racist rhetoric embraced by Israel's Netanyahu. The author ignores the reality on the ground in Israel. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/opinion/israel-election.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20190308&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=13&nlid=15353175emc%3Dedit_ty_20190308&ref=headline&te=1
3
Aren't democracy and diversity tough? As to Ms. Omar's comments, I've never heard of the "trope" of Jewish occult powers or hypnosis. My guess is that if you polled Americans, 99% wouldn't know what that's about.
As to "It's about the Benjamins," referring to the influence of AIPAC lobbying, I'd say that's an accurate comment about lobbies in general, as it is about the NRA's (ILA) lobbying, the AFL-CIO's (COPE) lobbying, the lobbying of the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and whatever their PACs are, the Chamber of Commerce, the potato growers, the ethanol industry, and all the rest.
As to advocates of dual allegiance, the AIPAC self-identifies in the logo at the top on its website https://www.aipac.org/act/congressional-club as "America's Pro-Israel Lobby." Is AIPAC promoting an anti-semitic slur?
I'm glad to have Representative Omar in Congress, and encourage open discussion of "our," especially the Republicans', allegiance to the Netanyahu wing of Israeli politics and their, let's face it, nationalist and racist treatment of Palestinians. Doe that mean I'd prefer to live in Gaza? No freaking way. But as poet Bobby Burns said, "For all that and all that, a man's a man for all that." A woman too. Ein halb jude aus Florida.
6
One criticizes Israel at their peril in this country. No one is denying the holocaust (no Democrat anyway) and the horror and slaughter brought upon the Jews by the Nazis. The bureaucratic way the Nazis approached the death camps was chilling. But all the way back to Vlad the Destroyer, the powerful have eviscerated the powerless in great numbers. The Armenians were slaughtered by the Turks. Why then is Israel the one country to be held beyond reproach and criticism? And why is empathy for the plight of the every day Palestinians, who have no more control over Hamas and Hezbollah than the Israeli citizen has over Netanyahu, why is any empathy for the suffering automatically considered a slight to Israel and, by extension, AIPAC? Am I anti-Semitic for even asking the questions?
7
criticize israel...you are anti-semitic it seems. simple as that.
27
Great editorial! The freshman congresswoman needs to be very careful how she articulates her thoughts in regards to the sensitive area of, well everything that has to do with the Middle East. At the same time I think there is no more acceptable time to question support for the US-Israel relationship.
I think both the United States and Israel have at times bought into visions of self appointed "exceptionalism" that deludes us into believing that our unique histories prevent us from the perpetration of truly immoral acts towards others. This is an unhelpful belief.
A true friend tells you when are not acting according to your self-professed principles. Unquestioning support of unacceptable behavior is no evidence of friendship.
I am not sure it that is the concept Rep. Omar is trying to communicate, but if it isn't I hope someone communicates it soon.
19
Rep. Omar, quoted in this week's Politico magazine:
"Omar says the “hope and change” offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. "
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/08/ilhan-omar-dean-phillips-minnesota-democratic-party-225696
Rep. Omar's attitude is that anyone before her was "bad", and only she can determine the correct direction for the nation.
Sound familiar?
We won't be successful trying to defeat a right-wing authoritarian Trump with left-wing hubris, denial, absolutism and ignorance.
30
I don’t know if Rep. Omar is an ill-mannered, uninformed bigot or if she’s engaging in attention-seeking behavior, but this Democrat is already tired of her.
The more Ms. Omar talks, the more she sounds like trump. That’s troubling.
55
Thank you for saying what I have not heard from other defenders of Omar. Namely, that she is the victim of a double-standard AND that what she said was way out of bounds, regardless of what is in her heart and mind. Her defenders left second part out. Michelle Goldberg is one of the fairest commentators I know.
17
How many people, especially woman get an opportunity to enter the arena of our Democratic system representing the voice of all people in ones district? Ms. Omar has been there for 2 months and she is already caused turmoil. I have to believe she had a specific agenda when she ran.
18
Ms. Goldberg, I appreciate your fairly summarizing Waldman's WP piece debunking the anti-Semitism charges - even though you don't agree with him.
But I think you never come to terms with Waldman's argument - instead, go off on a tangent about Omar's supposed "micro-agressions" which you claim but never support.
To me, seems like all the attacks on Omar's supposedly anti-Semitic remarks are by the US right wing - who want to shut up any criticism of support for Israel - and by right liberal Democrats unreasonably afraid of losing votes.
Enough martial, semi-nationalistic support for a government that undemocratically oppresses people. No more 'we're with you,' no-strings-attached military aid. The present Israeli government's policies are wrong, oppressive, and not in the US's national interest.
We should support Israel, but seriously pressure them to make the world safer - oppression of Palestinians is not only wrong, but strengthens anti-Israeli and anti-US extremism around the world.
But that's good for the US right, because then they can point to how military power is vital, especially against people of color. And if they peel off a few right wing pro-Israelis in the process, better still for them.
10
Omar is desperately trying to tell the Democratic Party why it is dying. Too bad the party doesn't want to hear her. The more the Dems seek to chastise her, the more they prove her point about certain lobbies having outside influence over US politics, while also handing 2020 to Trump. They need to decide fast, and not waffle: will they move left, as the next generation demands, or will they remain a center party while Republicans claim the right and lefties form a third party? (Or stop voting entirely?
17
Move too far Left and what you’ll get is a Government that is far Right. They trashed Clinton because she was moderate and look where that got us. Maybe far Left will happen but it isn’t what’s happening now.
@Humanesque and not deciding is by default staying center because obviously, you have to decide to move if you are to move; not deciding means standing still while everything else moves around you. So by trying to have their cake and eat it too, Dems of the old guard will either accelerate the death of the party or simply enable it.
Progressive Americans of all ethnic backgrounds, along with many Israelis, have criticized Israel's settlement policy and Netanyahu's government without marching repeatedly into anti-Semitic remarks called, "microaggressions," by the author of this column. As a recently elected representative, Congresswoman Omar surely has the speaking and writing skill to to address policy while avoiding prejudiced stereotypes. The proof that she has failed repeatedly to do so is evidenced by the many columns written about her remarks, and the thousands of comments in response. Why has the criticism surrounding Israel's policy toward Palestinians marched into accusations of anti-Semitism? Less frequent criticism of other government's policies have witnessed no "microaggressions" against Americans whose hyphenated ethnicity might include those same countries. No question of dual loyalties, global financial influence, etc. Congresswoman Omar is not guilty of one, thoughtless remark followed by an apology. She has repeatedly marched into the arena now discussed. At best, she has diverted the focus from a valid discussion of current Israeli policy. At worst, she has given Donald Trump Republicans a wholly unnecessary cudgel against progressives while diverting focus from the legal issues surrounding the man currently occupying the white house.
12
I suppose there will always be divided debate on Omar's comments, but when will there be debate, divided or no, on Israel? What in the world do we owe the state of Israel? One would think it was us, not them, who were the beneficiaries of actions taken by Israel to prop us up as a country and were provided "FREE" annual allowance of $100's of billions of Israeli taxpayer dollars for use to buy Israeli munitions - but it isn't. It isn't the U.S. that should be beholden to Israel, as it very much seems, but Israel beholden to their "ONLY" benefactors in the world - the U.S of A. Let's stop talking about Omar, unless it's to thank her for drawing our attention to this disjointed and inappropriate status quo, but instead talk about Israel. We can start by stop gifting them billions in American taxpayer dollars to buy U.S. arms to use against rock throwing Palestinians.
23
Right. Setting back acceptance of immigrants by 70 years.
6
But please, at least recognize that it is, indeed, all about the Benjamins. It is all about the money.
For the industries and their lobbyists, exchanging campaign contributions for their legislative wish lists, it's all about the Benjamins.
For the interest groups and the legislators and candidates they support, whether it's the NRA, AIPAC, or the AFL-CIO, In our nation's capital, as in our 50 state capitals, money talks. That is to say, it's all about the Benjamins.
Rep. Omar spoke inelegantly but she did tell the truth. If you want to drain the swamp, then drain the swamp, but for the time being, let's not kid each other about what motivates our politicians. It's all about getting re-elected, which means it's all about raising money. Calling it by a slang name doesn't make it anti-Semitic. Pointing a finger at AIPAC is not anti-Semitic any more than pointing a finger at any other interest group and how it garners support for its agenda.
17
I am a (93) y.o. Jew, born in Jerusalem, volunteered as a pilot in what was then the US Army Air Corps during WWII.
1. "Why are we bothering about Ms. Omar when we should be concentrating on ...?" I fear that many commenters, who may have been born after WWII, are not familiar with how Germany slowly became fascistic. I see signs of that already happening here, with the increasing antisemitism and the BDS movement. What is more important than Man's relationship to his fellow human being? How about concentrating on that.
2. On (3) occasions the Palestinians were offered a state. The response was to drive the Israelis into the sea, in keeping with their ideology of 'Dar-al-Islam', the world of Islam. They, themselves, will not tolerate a (2)-state solution.
3. To remind Ms. Omar, who had fled Somalia as a child, and sought refuge in Kenya for (4) years. Guess who gave you succor in that refugee camp. Yep, it was 'evil' Israel. This, despite the fact that Somalia, a Sunni Muslim country, to this day, does not recognize Israel. In fact,(70) y,o, Israel has provided, since 1958, international humanitarian aid assistance to more than (140) countries, even to those who do not maintain diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, including the Palestinians.
4. How about cleaning our home first, vis-a-vis what we have, and are doing to our Native Americans, with (7) of the reservations in Ms. Omar's own state of Minnesota. I don't hear her saying anything of their plight.
718
This comment makes all too much sense on all levels. So I’m sure it will be rejected by most knee jerk readers.
51
@Uri G
Dear Uri,
Thank you for that response. You are a good man. Enjoy many more years of happiness. And thank you for what you did during WWII. My parents (Jewish) both served in the US military during WWII. Your generation will never be forgotten.
Daniel
60
@Uri G
Loved your post and am honored by your life.
I see Fascism as a predictable process that occurs & reoccurs in civics: it is a reflex to mass hardships that result from concentrations of wealth and the artificial austerity concentration of wealth causes and inflicts upon huge masses of people.
As wealth concentrates, hardship mounts upon those from whom wealth has vacated. Eventually conditions become intolerable & the masses rouse to go after the rich. The rich, not wanting to give up their baubles for anything, but especially to the masses, whom they despise anyway, use their influence to deflect anger at a recognizable minority among the rich. In most countries that means antisemitism.
From 1945 to 1972 GNP went up 100% and the median wage (and all subgroups wages) went up with it. Since 1972 (47+ years) the GNP has gone up 150% but the median wage has remained flat. This is the result of 39+ years of supply side regressive economics. This is causing massive hardship for hundreds of millions of Americans. In turn its triggering a fascist response by some. This is why most Jewish people are progressives - at 150% increase in GNP there is more than enough wealth to go around - but too many of the very selfish greedy rich, it's never enough.
This 47+ year trend just isn't possible w/out complicity from selfish -in on the take- elites in both parties. Our elites are guilty of policy malpractice and are waging war against the working class.
49
She might be4 innicent in her viewpoints given her age, etc, but she is a liability that has decided her single term membership. I cannot condon her for her actions, nor can I criticize her for her actions. She is over her head in Congress and must go!
20
@ML
This time it is 2, next time it might be 4!
I looked up microaggression and got this: "a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority." Sadly, what Omar did is much more than a microaggression.
26
Of course, if Omar’s comments referred to explicit acts rather than generalities, then discussion could proceed without giving room to trolls.
For example, she could bring up inviting Netanyahu to speak before Congress. Discussion then could range over how that happened and whether limits should be placed upon such events. That would avoid inapplicable generalizations of anti-Semitism.
More generally, specific events may fall under various classifications, and Omar could avoid being lumped in with generalities she did not espouse.
This route could have been followed by the Dems as well, thereby avoiding both Omar’s problems and the problem of seeming to censure her.
However, all that is now history, a history of confusion Republicans and their shills on talk radio, Fox News, YouTube, etc... will be sure to bring up over and over again.
4
Representative Ilhan Omar: "I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it's O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country."
Representative Juan Vargas: "Additionally, questioning support for the U.S.-Israel relationship is unacceptable."
It sounds like Omar is on-point.
17
Omar and those like her really want Israel to be destroyed and replaced by an Arab state. The exaggerations and lies concerning Israel's transgressions are emphasized. Countries that are far worse, and who are not being threatened by their neighbors, are ignored. Think of China, Iran, Turkey, Syria, etc. Yet to these people Israel is the worse country on earth. I traveled in the West Bank in 2017, in the part that is fully autonomous. I saw luxury homes, not refugee camps. I saw tourist shops. This was not an Israeli-sponsored trip. Omar has an agenda, and she knows exactly what she is doing. What she is doing will tear the Democratic party apart, and allow Trump another four years.
27
Here's a crazy idea: Instead of saying that Omar is using "tropes," why not actually address the merits of her statements?
For example, do Jewish donors expect something in return for their political contributions? Is there anything wrong with that?
BTW, I like how Goldberg takes both sides of the intra-party Democrat conflict and just blames Republicans as a dodge. A real profile in courage.
11
Every person who makes an excuse or offers some kind of equivocation for Ms. Omar and her blatant anti-Semitism brings us one step backward toward a past that I thought we had finally learned from and buried never to return.
Never forget.
30
You give Omar too much of a pass, Ms. Goldberg. She should be experienced enough to understand what she is doing, as Mr. Friedman has said.
It's entirely one thing to question Israeli policies, but another to use anti-Semitic language. It's as though she read the BDS propaganda, but failed to study the history of Palestine and the people who live there.
I was glad to see two Muslim women among the freshmen members. I'm not so happy now.
20
The problem with all these complaints about what Ilhan Omar has said is that they make legitimate discourse about certain issues impossible. As there is a long tradition of antisemitism, virtually any criticism of Israel can be made to sound like an antisemitic trope. If we say, for example, that AIPAC has too much influence over Middle East policy, it could be called a "trope" for the view that Jews pull the strings of power behind the scenes. If we point out that AIPAC and pro-Israel forces are well funded, it can sound like we are saying that Jews control the American economy.
The problem is that these statements are reasonable, even if they can be used to antisemitic ends. Suspicions about "loyalty" can be bigoted. But we do have persons like Dennis Ross, a supposed peace mediator some of whose own colleagues accuse of being too pro-Israel. It is not unreasonable to say that some people may have trouble recognizing when Israeli and American interests do not coincide or putting American interests first when they have an official position in our government. It is very wrong to say they are typical of US Jews.
Does Omar generalize about Jews, or say they have too much money or power? If so, it has never been brought to light. Is the standard then that we should never say anything that an anti-semite might find useful, even if it is true or at least arguable? If so, then we could never discuss Israel's human rights abuses and our complicity in them.
Let's be fair
7
What is this gibberish? Microaggession? Do you remember what Somalia in the 1990's was like? Omar is neither naive nor foolish - she's a woman who spent her early childhood in refugee camps. She understands the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere better than you might think - having lived some of that herself.
It should be understood that senior members of Congress sat Omar down and instructed her that support of Israel was policy.
The issue of dual loyalty as an "anti-Semitic trope" is nonsense given that the very issue of divided loyalties was a regular topic of discussion at various Zionist Congresses in the 1890's and early 1900's. It was a great part of the reason why many prominent American Jews remained reluctant to support the Jewish Agency well into the Mandatory regime of the 1920's.
Please to be telling me about any other ally of the United States that has the organization, lobbying presence and fund-raising chops that AIPAC and its subordinates have.
So now a young, woman POC who also happens to be a member of a persecuted minority and a REFUGEE brings this up and members of another persecuted minority, who should know better, can't leave it alone?
34
@AZDuck--
"So now a young, woman POC who also happens to be a member of a persecuted minority and a REFUGEE brings this up and members of another persecuted minority, who should know better, can't leave it alone?"
Perhaps because Rep. Omar, herself, should also have known better and left the issue alone, TOO?
Her job, as I understand it, is to represent the needs of her district, and not to go out of her way to pick a national fight with--as you point out--an extremely well-organized lobby whose members and issues are probably of very little interest to her constituents.
My guess is that Rep. Omar has done a fine job of torpedoing her 2020 candidacy, and more power to her.
7
Can we have an honest discussion about the culture she represents? The sexism? The religious fanaticism? The contempt for many American values?
Because there's the discussion you really can't have.
36
Actually, the left has been more responsible for main-streaming anti-semitism in political/public discourse for decades now. The constant misleading media coverage/narrative that has created a progressive gospel that Zionism is racism, Israel is an occupying colonial power, Israel uses disproportionate force etc, etc - in blatant contradiction to a vast array of known facts (and their common sense interpretation) that demonstrate a clear chronology of neighborly aggression to Israel and its never-ending attempts to balance peace and defense - is clearly a manifestation of anti-semitism.
24
Perhaps those outraged could share how exactly they'd like us to discuss the substantial influence of AIPAC and Sheldon Adelson?
34
@Sarah You need to better explain what the problem is. If Sheldon Adelson was influential, wouldn't we be in the middle of Romney's second term? If AIPAC was substantially influential, wouldn't the Iran deal have been killed under Obama?
One thing you can do to counter the influence of money is to think for yourself and vote. You can't argue that money buys elections while those with the most money continue to lose elections.
11
Just another spin on the coddling of Ms. Omar because she wears a hijab. The fact is, neither her refugee status, her skin color, her religious faith, nor her political party ought to immunize Ms. Omar from the consequences of her hate speech. But in this era of intersectionality, where virtue is inherent in victimhood, she gets a pass.
41
“Mild anti-Semitism” - that is linguistic gymnastics. Anti-Semitism should not be tolerated in any form.
30
@Collie Sue, you will have to better explain the scale to us from mild to severe. Examples?
1
“We haven’t all had the good fortune to be ladies; we have not all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand on common ground—for we’ve all been babies.”
1
Can we get more context regarding Omar’s recent comments? Was she discussing S1’s Title 4 supresion of the BDS movement when she talked about allegence to another country?
7
@Douglas,
Yes she was.
But that would go against the narrative being pushed. (and paid for...)
5
Enough with the "others did worse" comments, already. Omar did nothing wrong except apologize too quickly. She said nothing about Jewish powers, semi-occult or otherwise. She said nothing about disloyal Jews. The problem she points to accurately is that pro-Israel lobbying money is affecting US foreign policy and internal dialog.
The lobbying has been effective and EVERYONE in Congress is under some pressure to be loyal to a foreign country controlled by a racist ruling party, or risk being branded with a scarlet A for Antisemitic. The misplaced reactions to Omar's comments prove she is correct about the problem. If anyone wants to gin up a "micro-aggression" out of hearing her truth and then choose to be offended, that is not on her.
26
The problem with Rep. Omar is that everyone knows the only thing she’s sorry about is that she got busted for her anti-semitism. The fact that certain Republicans are worse is besides the point. Also, the fact that anti-Muslim bigots have committed their own acts of bigotry against Rep. Omar should be dealt with separately. If Dems are to stand against bigotry, they have to hold their members to a higher standard than the Republicans. Remember that for many Republicans, bigotry is a feature, not a bug.
22
This is a rather meandering and weak apologia.
She appears to be most certainly becoming a pro at working the PR machine, but she also seems to be a nasty, vocal, and highly bigoted political bomb.
She needs to be expunged from public service at the next election.
22
Ms. Goldberg writes: "I assume Omar has been reckless rather than malicious." Why does she assume that? And why doesn't she assume it when people she dislikes also make anti-semitic or other raceist comments?
Ms. Goldberg also writes: "Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel and its most powerful American lobby, has invoked each of these tropes." As has Ms. Goldberg, ironically, in criticisng Ms. Omar. The "perfectly valid criticims of Israel and its most powerful American lobby" simply reproduces the anti-Semitic trope that the "poweful" Jewish lobby pulls the strings in Washington. It reverses the real relationship, which is one of the world's greatest power (the US, not Israel) supporting a small state that it uses as a beachhead in the Middle east.
Opposition to Israel based on the exaggerated contention that a "powerful" Jewish lobby is using the US is anti-Semitic. American governments support Israel bec ause it is in American - not wealthy, all-powerful, conniving, Jewish-American lobbyists' - interests to do so.
12
Having her in the USG, as one of nation's lawmakers, is simply a disgrace. Thank you.
19
"Has Aipac — founded more than 50 years ago to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship” — become too powerful?" The Times asked
"Too powerful" as in "Power corrupts...absolute power absolutely?"
It is certainly too powerful if it casts ALL critics of Israel--for whatever reason--as antisemitic, holocaust denying, irrational neo-Nazis.
No politician or country is necessarily righteous, incapable of error or injustice--including Israel. Trump obviously. As for Bibi--ask the Israeli police.
And as for American "double agents"--
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” Consider that this is Trump deferring publicly--on national media--that he believes and supports Putin.
Still--let's make sure critiques of foreign countries and domestic politicians are fact based, not marketing slogan based. That certainly applies to Trump--he is 110% marketing--real facts are--well--"alternates." Otherwise the critic does her own cause more harm than good.
2
Ilhan Omar, an immigrant from an African country, will unlikely detect the echoes of Europe's centuries long anti-Semitism that does infect certain anti-Israel statements in the United States and elsewhere. Let's try to remember that and work constructively with her to make her the best representative she can be for the Jews and non-Jews of Minnesota.
7
Actually, anti-Semitism is rampant in Moslem African countries. They still talk about how the Jews caused 9/11.
11
Ms. Goldberg does a nice job of illustrating that some of these accusations of anti-Semitism are simply opportunistic and without foundation. Take her Jordan and "$teyer" example.
Tom Steyer has contributed many millions to Democratic causes. His father, as noted, was Jewish (folks familiar with Jewish law know that it is the mother that passes the faith).
His mom was Christian. Mr. Steyer is now an active Episcopalian. From US News and World Report:
""There was this moment when he began taking his kids to church. He wanted them to think about morality. His intention was to do it for them, but it ended up impacting him," Lehane says. Steyer now attends Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal church in San Francisco, almost every Sunday. "
But yeah, criticize him for throwing his money around and your an anti-Semite.
I understand Nadler had to bond with his base, having criticized Ilhan Omar. But why does a NY Times columnist feel obliged to play along with patently Fake News?
6
Let me save you time from reading this Opinion. 23 Republicans voted against the watered down resolution condemning racism so the Democrats and Omar as not as bad as Republicans. My 9 year uses that excuse when deflecting blame on his brothers. Hey Michelle, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck. If saying "it's all bout the Benjamins" then it's about dual loyalty then its about hypnotizing the world, I think the duck has been found. Omar is anti-semitic. So are some Republicans. Omar should be removed from committees just like Republican Steve King or the Dems are hypocrites
17
"Echos whole histories of Trauma" What about the whole history of trauma caused by Israel and supported, (if nothing else by omission) by countless resolutions in the US congress under Democrats and Republicans on the Palestinian.
4
Rep Omar is a classic example of ignorant attention-getter. One could expect more of someone who spent time as refugee in Kenya and found (probably recently) haven in USA. Before one shoots one's mouth one should check the facts. Does Omar know that Israel accepted many refugees from Africa? Besides that, thousands of Israelis are black Ethiopian Jews. As to Palestinian refugees from what became Israel (about 800,000 originally), they are refugees by own choice. Does Omar know that about same number of Jews were expelled at the same time from Arab countries and are still refugees in other Arab countries that keep them in squalor. Does Omar know that about 20% of Israelis are Arabs and live there in safety that Arabs in other countries (e.g. Syria) can only dream about? Does Omar know that since 1948 Arab countries consistently refused to have peace with Israel even when they got 95% of their demands. Why Omar does not go incognito to Syria or Iraq for a long trip and see how the life for her in Arab country would be. USA IS a country of refugees like her, who feel attachment to their roots while being American.
20
Trying again after being denied space here:
I am a Jew, as far as I know 100 percent. My ancestors were victims and survivors of the inquisition, countless programs and the Shoah. They were money changers, money lenders, doctors, lawyers, electrical engineers, rabbis, philosophers, small manufacturers and merchants. I have a Harvard doctorate in applied mathematics and economics. I spent a few decades at Goldman Sachs running quantitative strategy depending businesses before I retired.
For one second did I take offense from İlhan Omar’s comments. Why should I? Here do called “tropes” are deemed as such because we want to deem them as such. When people mention that most successful violinists have been and continue to be Jews (from Odessa is the joke), or that there are more Nobel Prizes in the Sciences awarded to Jews then any other ethnic group (per capita unbelievably destorted distribution), we don’t turn back and call them antisemites as far as I know. And of course we should not.
Now, Omar didn’t even do any of this. I criticize the State if Israel, the influence of AIPAC in perpetuating the misery Isreal imposés on Palestinian people and the fact that money’s influence in politics is a dangerous tool against democracy all the time. I never was called an antisemite. Should have I been? Should have they censored me and pass resolutions against me in the univerity senate, or management committees?
I don’t think so.
17
"Twice now, she has publicly expressed regret for saying things that many Jews — including some who are quite far to the left on Israel — see as freighted with anti-Semitism, only to reignite public controversy with new insensitive comments"
Let's get to the bottom line; Ilhan Omar is definitively anti-Semitic. She is not apologetic and she knows exactly what she is saying. I find her and her remarks deeply disturbing. I also find those who support her at any level even more disturbing.
Anti-Semitism does exist in the United States. It exists in state and federal government, schools, colleges, and very tragically within churches across the nation. Until about the mid 1970s it was allowed by law to exclude Jews by prohibiting transfer of real estate to Jews. Hotels in Miami used to exclude Jews. Jews were excluded from law firms, country clubs, teaching positions and at one time even Harvard. Jews escaping by ship from Nazi Germany were denied entry and returned to Germany where most were slaughtered by the Nazis.
Ilhan Omar is dangerous. She is lethal. She is not engaging in "micro aggression" but rather full blown warfare against Israel, Jews and notably, American Jews. Ilhan Omar has questioned my loyalty to America.
My mother and father are veterans of WWII. My grandfather was wounded during the Battle of the Meuse Argonne. Another was a U.S. Marine in WWI and Navy Corpsman on the beaches of Normandy. I am a veteran too.
Ilhan Omar is a malicious anti-Semite.
22
Heaven forbid losing a vote (or a subscriber) is risked when "someone" speaks out against defamation of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Catholics, etc.
ALWAYS reflect in a mirror before you pass resolutions.
Or publish.
1
Omar,opened a can of worms, she was given a green light by the so called progressive radical left that it’s ok to publicly denounce Israel & Jews. It’s common for persecuted people to find scapegoats to take the pressure off themselves, but she picked the wrong group to denounce. American Jews will not tolerate Anti Semitism, & be scapegoats for others, we had enough of this & will fight back until we destroy those that threaten our existence, this goes for the black caucus, who have forgotten that Jews were their strongest allies in their fight for equal rights, some even died for it.They will rue the day for the position they took against Israel & Jews.They lost their best friends,& the Democrats may have lost the chance to take back the White House.
14
I am literally crying that my party since I was a child can not come out and condemn anti-semitism without watering this down and ignoring its focus. I want to be a Democrat again... but if they will not come out and clearly label this bigotry for what it clearly is. I can not vote for this party again until they purge the radicals from their ranks. I literally weep that the Democrats are not openly accepting antisemites among their ranks. This is how Trump wins again.... Get yourselves together!
16
The Dems keep trying to relocate the political discussion outside the realm of reality. They've now (re)discovered anti-Semitism, a non-topic for decades. The Democrat Party is a huge political smudge pot billowing forth clouds of smoke to block the view and divert attention--from what? The fact that they really have no constructive ideas. All they want to do is get control of the U.S. economy and treat it like a piñata for the benefit of their core constituency, the layabouts.
7
Omar's actual sin - as a black female Muslim, no less ("How dare she?!!") - was to have the temerity to question a sacred cow, the egregiously disproportional lockstep of the US Congress with Likud extremist Israeli policy. And the politicians, knowing they have no clothes in this, either ran for the hills or trained howitzers on her, wanting to shoot the messenger to avoid having to address the deeper issue.
9
What utter nonsense. As a Jew, I am sensitive to anti-Semitic statements. As far as I can tell, Rep. Omar has said nothing that is remotely anti-Semitic. She is absolutely right to challenge the financial power of AIPAC and its influence on US foreign policy. She is absolutely right to challenge policy towards Israel pushed by Jews who hold loyalty to both the US and Israel. Jews themselves need to question where their primary loyalty lies when policy towards Israel blinds us to Israeli transgressions, to the point where we need to rationalize away collective punishment and the continuing theft of Palestinian lands in the name of biblical prerogative. Anyone who believes that American Jews do not hold dual loyalty is purposefully ignorant of the fact. Anyone who believes that AIPAC does not use its financial power to influence policy is purposefully ignorant. Raising questions about how policy towards Israel is made, in the face of UN findings of crimes against humanity by that country and Israeli actions towards Palestinians in general, is not only prudent but patriotic. The one thing it is not is anti-Semitic.
10
I agree with her completely. Israel, under its current president, is not the Israel which deserved to be created, and backed. Maybe it can get back to being a constructive state, and not one that shoots kids and medics.
9
Omar needs to do better...
(you said it). She is a magnet
for the press as a young woman,
a refugee, a Muslim strongly
projecting her identity and speaking
her mind with a brain/tongue disconnect.
Is she misinformed? Ignorant about Jewish
history and antisemitic tropes?
Is she knowingly promoting “hot button”
material and relishing the attention
and controversy? Only she knows.
(I just read that she criticized Obama
making her an equal opportunity critic.)
One thing for sure, in our polarized
political state, she has a lot of power
to hurt the Democratic Party. If the
Democratic Party is maimed guest what...
Trump will rule.
6
It is strange not one person who blames Omar as anti-semitic has mentioned about "let's have a two-state solution and be done with it." The reason is many settlers are vying all the properties and lands of the Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians. Unless this stops the weaponizing of anti-Semitism will not come to halt!
3
As a Jew, I did not find her remarks offensive. The fault lies more with rabid Zionists who are demanding 100% support and loyalty to Israel from everyone or else they will bring the wrath of anti-semitism on your head. Yes there are tropes, but people who take offense at microaggressions need to take some responsibility for their sensitivity and stop blaming and vilifying others. I think all this alarm about tropes is somewhat disingenuous. The real point is to weaponize 'anti-semitism' to force people into silence about Israels atrocious settlement policies and oppression of Palestinians. Rep. Omar is courageous to push back on this.
14
Read/hear Ms. Omar's words. She is pushing back against Israel's problematical actions, from AIPAC to their mistreatment of Palestinians. It seems that too many people want to insulate Israel from such criticism (to put it on a pedestal).
Ms. Omar is not anti-Semitic—and not just because many Palestinians are also Semites [Wikipedia reminds us that " Levantine Arabs, Assyrians/Syriacs, Samaritans, Maronites, Druze, Mandaeans, and Mhallami all have a common Near Eastern heritage".] Rather, she is for equality for all, and in working to improve equality one must lower those on pedestals to be closer to the level of all.
I would love to hear Herman Wouk's 'take' on this, not Michelle Goldberg's ...
6
How can someone who makes an anti-semitic remark not be anti-semitic? Let's forget about the overwhelming responses to her statement and focus on this one concept. Nothing passes through one's mouth unless your brain has thought of it. To say someone wasn't thinking when a statement is made is laughable. Unfortunately most people don't apologize for what they think, the apology is more about what's said.
Am I racist to say I don't like the people from a certain ethnic background? Or am I not a racist but my statement is racist? Let's be clear:
1) racists sometimes do not make racists remarks, but they're still racists
2) racists making racists remarks: still racist
3) self identified non racist making racist remarks: unaware they're actually racist (ignorance is no excuse)
" I assume Omar has been reckless rather than malicious, but it is incumbent on her, as on any public person who wades into fraught sectarian debates, to speak with care"
Whether you're reckless or malicious, it's still anti-semitic.
You can speak with care, but we you how you really feel, so you're still anti-semitic
17
"RACIST VILIFICATION" That is what is suffered by the people attacked with these mindless ANTI-SEMITIC attacks. Just when does one take responsibility for what one says? Omar. in my view, has voiced her feelings. She must now pay or be paid for that catharsis. Accountability has gone AWOL in the whole country and we enable that loss.
4
I appreciate, as undoubtedly does Congresswoman Omar, the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. However, the depth of the criticism of her is not founded on the conflation of doctrinal distinctions as you suggest. Her use of anti-Semitic tropes operates as a dog whistle to anti-Semites that she is one of them This only serves to empower anti-Semitics. Her public apologies must be viewed as insincere by her the repetition of these tropes.
10
There are three quotes from Congresswoman Omar that seem to have been at the heart of this controversy Let's look at them in order, and decide whether or not the three would have been troubling in any other context.
1) FROM A 2012 TWEET: Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.
Troubling, perhaps -- but let's substitute another hot-button issue. Would you find the following troubling?
“The NRA has hypnotized the America, may God awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of the NRA.”
You might disagree with the sentiment, but most Americans would not find such language beyond the pale.
2) "It's all about the Benjamins".
Good grief -- it is a common phrase that has been the title of a pop song and a movie. Would the same tweet have been offensive if she had been talking about the gun lobby or any supporters of any other issue? I don't think so.
2) "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. And I want to ask, why is it okay for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries, or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobby?"
Sorry, nothing outrageous here -- even quite reasonable. Just a poor turn of phrase.
In other words, nothing she said deserves criticism as anti-Semitism.
But, hey, she's Muslim, so pile on since she is a safe target.
16
There is nothing nothing anti-Semitic about what the woman said. To have it so requires that it be heard as such. Israel is not Jewry and Jewry is not Israel. Conflating the two is a political game, and it is sickening to me to read as distinguished columnist as Michelle Goldberg do just that, but oh so subtly. Why? There are many people Jewish and not Jewish who are intimidated by the fear that honest evaluation of US and Israel relationship would put them in jeopardy professionally, socially, even physically. An honest evaluation of the pseudo symbiotic relationship is just not possible. The brouhaha over the congresswoman's remarks simply proves the fact.To deny that many American Jewish people--I live in a vast community of them-- who put allegiance to Israel over allegiance to the US. Face up to it, Michelle, it is simply so. The congresswoman is only the messenger of a reality. Her voice must be suppressed because congress itself is enthralled to Israel for better or worse, as a lover is enthralled hopelessly by a bully.
9
Yes, Congresswoman Omar certainly does need to do better.
She can start by not arguing complex issues like our support of a repressive Israeli regime on (the aptly named) Twitter. That may be what millennials do, but still it is amateurish and actually degrades any argument she wishes to make to use what was designed to be, and essentially still is, a platform for patter and quick takes for weighty and deeply fraught political issues.
A print analogy would be to bring the same issues up in a gossip column.
I wish to echo the Democratic Congresswoman who the other day exhorted her caucus to “Just stop tweeting!”
As the president proves every day, Twitter is the platform for twits.
5
Today is International Women’s Day; should not this conversation be held among women, with Representative Omar at the table?
Genderwise, the dialogue has been too one-sided.
2
Much of what is considered "socialism" originated with eastern European and Russian writers in the 19th Century, some of whom were Zionists. "Jewish socialist!" is a potent political epithet in the US.
2
I do not agree that calling out the outsized influence Israel holds in American politics is a micro-aggression against anyone. Saying that it is: 1-conflates separate issues 2-minimizes the validity of the her statements and 3-is an act of overt aggression against Omar.
5
Everyone is offensive to someone.
The Democratic Party has done an excellent job tearing our society into identity groups. Now they are faced with the inevitable dilemma- which interest group takes precedence? Which is the biggest victim of (white-male, Christian) oppression?
And so they have their cake and eat it too! A condemnation of 'bigotry.'
Bigotry: intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself.
Think about that definition. Being a bigot is not only reasonable it is moral. Who can tolerate domestic abusers? Rapists?
The only way to not be a bigot is to be a nihilist.
4
Michelle Goldberg, in half-heartedly defending Ilhan Omar, piles on to the nonsensical attacks against the Representative. None of the references to Omar’s so-called attackes on Jews contain quotes; in fact, I defy Goldberg to present even one public statement where Omar mentions Jews.
4
Oh my, Omar just publicly bashed President Obama in a featured interview in Politico as a fake and a phony and no different from Trump.
I suspect Ms Goldbergs will quickly stop defending Ms Omar and this article may disappear from this website.
10
The President and various congressmen have displayed outrageous racial and ethnic aggression as well as blatant racism and no one called for formal censure, but because Omar makes microaggressions that "echo" of past trauma, suddenly Democrats are getting the vapors? Might this not prove her point?
2
Democrats are supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard. It's not like they were quiet about Trump and King and their ilk anyway.
5
After the flight of African American from the Democratic Party (see Blexit), it is high time for Jexit. Yes, I have joined a budding movement of young Jews leaving the Democrats. It no longer represents me. Period.
11
So does Al Franken get a pass? Megyn Kelly? Was the hurt they caused "unintentional" as well?
5
I am concerned because many of the commentators do not understand why Rep. Omar's comments are anti-Semitic. Ms. Goldberg explained this quite clearly:
Among the most basic anti-Semitic tropes are these: "Jews employ semi-occult powers to control world events; they manipulate hapless gentiles with their money; and Jews in the diaspora are disloyal to the countries in which they live. Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel and its most powerful American lobby, has invoked each of these tropes."
These comments, and the extraordinary escalation of anti-Semitic violence in the US and Europe, are what has Jewish Americans and many others, outraged.
11
Hit dog hollers - and, in this case, misrepresents, insinuates and attempts to deflect. Doesn't work.
As a Jewish American, every commenter trotting out the absurd "as a Jewish American" power play - regardless of the point they're making or the side they're on - ought to knock it off. If you have a point to make, just make it.
6
I expect Republicans to be racist. I demand better from Democrats.
Ilhan Omar and her apologists have done terrible damage to those of us on the left targeted endlessly by anti-Jewish sovereignty vitriol, while somehow never noting the profound illiberalsim of every majority Muslim state on earth.
In general, Michele Goldberg qualifies her support of Israel to such an extent that a modern Israel couldn't exist, seeing that it's surrounded by hostile anti-Jewish actors. Israel will always need a powerful military, wielded wisely by some governments or poorly by others. What Goldberg defines as microagression is keenly felt by Progressive Zionists and our allies for what it is: simply aggressive. I hold out no more hope for the serial offender Omar, I pray that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez course correct. If you defend certain minorities at the expense of others, are you truly just or merely political?
7
Michelle, I think you are being just a tad too protective of Omar. Before Omar, anti-Semitism was mainstreamed only in the Republican Party. Now it is also mainstreamed in the Democratic Party.
If you had quoted someone else other than Vargas, you would have found many Jews -- among the 60-70% of us -- who favor a two state solution to the Israeli occupation. Many of us are also angry that the combination of rightwing Orthodox Jews and Israel's 1%, have hijacked the idealistic vision of Israel as it used to be. Just like a similar combination has hijacked the United States.
I would edit your sentence re Vargas, to say, that he gave HIS game away but not THE game. . As Thomas Friedman and Bret Stephens put it yesterday, Omar is out to legitimize anti-Semitism and delegitimize Israel as a state that has a right to exist. Thanks to the support of people like yourself she is succeeding brilliantly.
Now I understand even better how African Americans felt when they had to choose between two racist parties. Until this year I was a lifelong Democrat. Now I have no party to support.
6
I'm a lifelong, liberal Democratic, and want to Trump out of office more than anything else. But if the Democrats are heading in this direction, and they can't rein in the most extreme, absurd, and now deeply offensive, voices, they will lose me in 2020. I am more worried now than I've been since the earliest days of the Trump fiasco. Ultimately, we may need to go the British route and devise a third, sane centrist party. And I really think at this point it would win because I do believe there are more sane and decent Americans than there are bigots--on both sides. Omar cannot be the future of the Democratic party if the Democratics want a future.
26
@LR Those denying basic rights and self-determination for Palestinians (after 70 years of abuse and dispossession) are not "centrists." They are far right reactionaries, whether they choose to call themselves Democrats or Republicans.
3
Her words were bad. Period.
The reaction was status quo for this era. How many have been severely punished for "bad words". How many have lost jobs, been kicked off of social media, been attacked by social media mobs. It may be ironic that the political correctness era snares a progressive here or there, but there should be no complaint since that is the game they created.
9
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Well, if Rep. Omar is referring to certain "influence" and mischaracterizes what it says--if it does not actually condone the pushing of "allegiance" to a foreign country--then what she says would seem to deserve criticism. She is not actually saying that anybody has dual loyalties, only talking about those, if any, who would say it is okay to "push" for it. This all comes down to Rep. Omar's interpretation of said "influence." But it does seem a rather tendentious way to frame the issue. If a communist says that Russia is to be admired, are they urging "allegiance" to it? What exactly does Rep. Omar want to say about political influence that says it is okay to push for approval of Israel? What is there to say about it? It's a free country.
5
Rolling my eyes and sighing over here.
If her remarks were made by a man and about race or gender, they would not be called "microagressions." They would be understood as hurting.
We'll listen to her future words and see whether they are similarly defended.
As for the Democratic Party, this is not a diversion. It is an opportunity to confront words and how they are felt. Nothing swept under the rug stays under the rug.
9
Sensitivity, reparations, outlandish green deals, a free for all immigration and whatever Bernie and Warren are peddling this week will ensure another four years of Trump. The Repubs and some Dems including myself do not see these issues as a priority or even appropriate at this time. There are many voters who believe Trump is doing a good job and they are saying they will re-elect Trump. The Dem candidates with the exception of three are acting like kindergarten teachers or girl scout troop leaders (no offense intended to teachers and GS leaders).
8
There is a clear and easily identifiable line between anti-Semitism and opposition to many of the policies pursued by the current Israeli government. There is little question that Israel has strayed far from its founding principles and has sytematically violated human rights.
It is also time for an open and candid discussion of America's continued foreign aid granted Israel. The $3.2 billion provided annually is entirely for military purposes, and makes Israel today one of the top receipients. Since 1946, total U.S. aid has topped $130 billion. Is Israel really unable to stand on its own two feet?
The concerted and oppressive efforts to stiffle the boycott movement are clearly anti-democratic.
Every American should have the right to support or oppose the boycott without fear of legal consequences.
Noting that AIPAC's overriding mission is to ensure economic aid and political support for Israel is not anti-Semitic.
But such robust lobbying for a foreign country is unprecedented.
That, in turn, provides the basis for Omar's comments.
Omar has turned over a rock many want left undisturbed.
4
I think that part of the problem is that the younger generation of Democrats didn't live through the horrific terrorism events, such as the Munich Olympics, the hijackings, the pizza parlor bombs and don't feel that there's any justification for Israel's hardline policies. Although I abhor the current hard right government, I also understand where they are coming from where it comes to security and distrust.
10
Thank God! A nuanced and considered approach to this subject. I do tend to give Omar the benefit of the doubt BUT she has to educate herself on this. She can't keep echoing anti-Semitic tropes (even if unaware of the provenance). On the other hand, I do believe there was an over-reaction that got the Dems in an awkward position. Omar needs to apologize in a clear way that shows she' growing. That's tough to do when you are under constant attack. The natural thing to do is hunker down and defend yourself (understandable but, ultimately unhelpful).
The rank hypocrisy of folks like Jim Jordan doesn't even rise to the level of recognition. They have no standing and their craven opportunism is far worse (IMO) than the clumsy and sometimes insensitive rhetoric of Rep. Omar.
4
As far as Republicans are concerned, Omar is truly a gift that keeps on giving. More, please.
8
I don't see any excuse for Omar. Just because others are bad doesn't make her statements OK
14
Ms. Omar is now trashing Obama. I hope she is defeated in the Democratic primary next year, and then Nancy Pelosi would have one less prima donna to deal with.
20
I am an educated middle aged professional living in New York. Graduate degree, executive level job. I'm Jewish. When I read/heard Rep. Omar's comments, my impression was/is that this is a woman who is anti-Semitic, has a negative view of Jews based on old stereotypes that is very much a part of who she is, but doesn't realize her own prejudice. I'm not surprised that she believes she is not anti-Semitic. By the way, my view has nothing to do with her criticism of Israel. My view is based on how she thinks- "it's all about the benjamins"...etc... You can apologize for her if you like, but it seems pretty clear that this is not somebody operating from an objective point of view.
555
@sf Right, saying "it's all about the benjamins" is a lot like saying "we need a crusade against terrorism." The same kind of insensitivity.
23
@sf
Ms Goldberg is in a fix, because somewhere deep inside she realizes that she should condemn the Omar woman. However, doing it in public would jeopardize the zealous self-protection of the Democratic party, who at all costs wish to project a monolithic united image to the outside world. I dearly hope that they also suffer from internal strife and that reveals that they are not so monolithic after all.
24
@sf If we hold "an objective point of view" as the standard, particularly in the Palestinian-Israeli context, nobody would qualify to speak.
And fyi, "it's all about the Benjamins" is her generation and cultural milieu's lingo for "It's all about the campaign contributions." A very valid point, imo - the corruption of our politics by campaign financing is third only to the Trump disaster and the climate emergency in the threats facing the American Experiment, because it sabotages political courage and wise policymaking in all other issue areas. And that, by design, includes political courage and wise policymaking with respect to the Middle East.
Btw, tell me what relevance your first two sentences have.
67
Omar’s loyalties are not being criticized, ridiculed, or held to a different, or “higher”, standard. At least I am not doing that. What astounds me is how so many comments here and Ms. Goldberg’s opinion minimize the critical need now in government for something greater than just a “fresh take”. I personally wouldn’t care whether Omar had two heads. I’d insist that, first, she use hers and appreciate how much more valuable she could be closer to her electoral base and experience.
11
@Orbis Deo: Forced migration will only increase under pressure of population growth, resource depletion, and climate change. Omar is a victim of forced migration, just as were many settlers of Israel.
1
When it comes to Israel, the Democratic Party faces just about it biggest rift. The positions of the moderate/centrist wing and the far left wing of the Party seem genuinely irreconcilable.
We are not very good at nuance. For the vast majority of us, regardless of how sophisticated we think we may be, in the end we see a good guy and a bad guy in every conflict. Here, if you are outraged by the Israeli government mistreatment of the Palestinians, then Israel and the people of Israel (Jews) are the bad guys. And if you support Israel and believe Israel really has bend over backwards to meet the Palestinians half way (if not more), then the Palestinians (Muslims) are the bad guy.
The chasm between the views of Ilhan Omar and Chuck Schemer does not lend itself to a middle ground. On this issue, I don't think there is any resolution that even mildly satisfies both sides. And, as Ms. Goldberg points out, the most frustrating political aspect is the looming gloating faces of the unabashedly hypocritical Republican Party. As if THEY have any standing to criticize either end of the Democratic Party as it honestly wrestles with the issue.
12
Congresswman Omar: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
I don't know what specifically Congresswoman Omar was referring to, but let's look at this case. If Americans should cherish and defend any one part of our government system, it should be The First Amendment's right to free speech. The Supreme Court has found that boycott's intended to achieve a political goal are speech. Yet, pushed by the power of Israel Lobby in the US, while opposed by the ACLU, our politicians (not only Jewish American politicians) voted to allow states to punish people and businesses that support the BDS boycott. In other words, helping Israel maintain it's grip upon Palestinians was more important to those men and women that protecting First Amendment rights. What does this say about the strength of allegiances? The best that critics of Congresswoman Omar's statements could do is to talk the phony talk of "tropes" and "memes" and how "hurtful" her statement was.
15
Omar has taken her constitutional right to free speech and turned it into hate speech.
18
@KJS, oh haven’t you been hearing trump since the primaries 2015? Nothing but hate. No brown people allowed. No Muslims allowed....
Unity is the only way to beat the trumpsters and the GOP. The Electoral College will not be eliminated before 2020. There won’t be a lot of changes in the gerrymandering that favors the GOP before 2020 either. If we don’t pull together - no third party candidates, no voters who stay home because their fave person isn’t the final candidate, or because they feel insulted in some way - we will see another GOP president, maybe even trump. No doubt. It’s math.
4
@jkk: At the federal level, gerrymandering affects only congressional races.
@jkk The EC will never be eliminated. It is basic math. You will not get enough states to cut their own throats and allow their votes to be stolen by coastal states. I suggest you live in the real world and figure out how to get the voters in smaller states to agree with you.
2
Let’s remember that we are all hearing this with different ears.
I’m an American with Irish ancestry. After 9/11, I knew that the terrorisis that we were ridding the world of wouldn’t include the IRA. I also have sympathies with people that are forced out of
their homes by a hostile government. In this case we are talking about Palestinians, and historically, Jews. And Somalis.
I do hear that sympathy in Ilhan Omar’s speech.
In the right wing American outrage, I don’t really hear support for right wing Israelis as much as some religion based agenda of Christian Conservatives. To me, they are the people bringing cash to this situation, they are the divided loyalties, they are the people doing the marginalizing and the profiling. And they do one heck of a job identifying who is, and who is not a victim.
7
"I assume Omar has been reckless rather than malicious . . ."
Bad assumption. Omar has openly supported Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups that have the destruction of Israel as their primary objective.
16
So, it has now become impossible to even express empathy for the miserable plight of the Palestinian people without being accused of anti-semitism. There is no chance of a two-state solution in this atmosphere.
499
The Palestinians don’t want a two-state solution. They turned down the deal Bill Clinton brokered in which they would have received 97% of the West Bank.
That’s because the Palestinians and the entire Arab world only want the complete destruction of Israel.
109
@William L. Valenti There is not chance for a two state solution because the leaders of the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel has a right to exist.
90
@William L. Valenti Care to discuss how Hamas has an impact in this puzzle?
59
Strange. Omar's statement: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” Is considered to be Anti-Semitic while Trump's admiration for a mob of white Neo-Nazis spouting racial and religious hatred, threatening, and actually committing acts of violence against anyone who disagreed with them - yet Trump says: "they are fine people" and not a single RNC voice is raised in protest. Why, because Trump's base likes those "fine people."
I have to wonder if members of the Knesset are pilloried for speaking out against America and Americans. Somehow I don't think the door swings that way.
15
Less than two months in office, and Congresswoman Omar is already taking on Israel and causing dissension within the Democratic Party? Her self inflicted wounds are exploited by the Republicans.
The freshman congressional class does not need to make an immediate impact within the Halls of Congress, especially at a time when there is momentum and opportunity to lead the country away from the corruption and dysfunction of the current administration. Contribute to worthwhile projects and legislation while complementing the efforts of your colleagues in the service of the American people. She is setting herself up for failure by embracing and being closely identified with a "cause."
7
Does anyone really believe that if Ms Omar's last name was O'Grady, there would be one tenth of this criticism?
30
@Ken calvey
Yes, if she accused those of English or Other backgrounds of having loyalties that were unAmerican.
6
"Every Democrat present backed the resolution, but 23 Republicans voted against it. It was a reminder that while Democrats sometimes fail to live up to the ideals of multiethnic democracy, Republicans don’t seem to recognize those ideas at all."
Democrat Clay did *not* vote in favor. And if Republicans "don't seem to recognize those ideas at all", how do you explain the 173 Republicans who voted *for* the resolution?
8
I am 100% on Omar's side on this. I think the comments were completely acceptable and people are just getting offended far too easily.
Money is important ... to everyone. We cannot be so blind that we never mention money, because we have to be sensitive to the idea that Jews have a money stereotype. We cannot refuse to mention lobbyist money. The fact is: it is all about the Benjamins. It really is, even if (gasp) the money came from AIPAC lobbyists.
If someone mentions that the US is irrational in blind support of Israel, that is not saying that Jews are mystic wizards.
I'm fully on board with the idea that we need to be polite, and we need to refresh our language to avoid stereotypical comments that are offensive. But we should not sit around inventing offenses.
I don't promise to never mention money around Jews. And support for Israel is not the same as support for Judaism.
24
sorry If she can be excused from unconscious bias against Jews, then nobody can be held accountable for that or a cultural based concept. Omar doesn't get a pass because she's young, naive or liberal.
21
Remember waaaay back, early in Obama's first term, when an African-American woman at some meet and greet said to him, 'I'm exhausted of defending you.' Remember that?
That's how I'm beginning to feel in re Ilhan Omar, whom I would've LIKED to support. Seriously wish she would 'fix' her public discourse.
11
Life does not come with 'trigger warnings'.
What is disgraceful is that we as a nation are not allowed to question the Israeli governmental policies and how those shape our own national policies without someone playing that anti-Zionist card.
Israel receives how much of my tax dollar each year?
-This when our bridges are a roll of the dice to drive over. -This when school children have to wear winter IN class not to freeze because there is not enough money to heat let alone educate them.
-This when our soldiers and families qualify for food assistance?
-This list goes on and on.
17
I believe you can be 100% supportive of security for the state of Israel, and recognize that Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East... and still be very critical of the utter submission of Congress as a whole to the most right-wing positions of the Israeli government: where is criticism of settlement expansion? Where is vigilance about human right violations? Where is pressure for a genuine commitment to a two-state solution? We can be BOTH strong supporters of the inalienable right to a Jewish homeland AND hold Israel to a higher standard in being true to its democratic values regarding citizens of a foreign country they have been occupying for more than 50 years...
16
Ask the surviving crewmembers of the U.S.S. Liberty whether you can serve two masters or not.
7
She's earned all the criticism she's gotten.
17
@Froon, majority support her views. How she said it was left to interpretation by the PC police.
2
It is especially galling to hear anti-semitism from a person wearing their religion on their head. Many people transfer what they do onto someone else. Like the person who accuses their spouse of having an affair, when that is they are doing themselves. So, why should I assume that Omar’s loyalties are to the U.S. when she advertises her loyalty to Islam? Same logic as she is using now.
11
Have you considered that the reaction to her words is this strong because of the scarf she wears?
3
Would this similarly disqualify all Congress people that display a crucifix or confederate flag?
2
@joe I would suggest they are also agenda driven....
Amazing to read ms. Goldberg double twist on Omar's story.
Essentially she is being caught up in american group identity ( female, LGBTQ..., african-american, and son on i long stopped counting them), and called for her tweet being "mildly" bad, but the representative is also a victim of other opinions ( curious to read this on anti-trump journal) so the case is too complicated involving so sensitive parts involved thus ms. Goldberg walks away without taking a stance.
Good choice for once. ( when you don't have a big white-housy target in front.. ).
.
Meanwhile, There's another conviction in the Mueller investigation, mr. Trump still isn't not even touched by any of this, the whole gargantuan Mueller report is Still under way ( publisher are "empty-handedly" starting to pre-sell it, Ms. Stephanie Giffords'case of hush money paid for intimate meeting with the president is Dismissed (the nytimes spent very good time on it ).,
Russia followed suit on the nuclear missiles treaty withdrawing after USA did. but there's nothing important to talk about. Just look at the article with the best 25 politically- motivated song to hear about ( massively publicized on nytimes' twitter account)
Better digging into such inconclusive sensitiveness, as always.
Where is "my safe space" from this Representative 's words ?
10
"even though her Republican colleagues routinely demonstrate far worse anti-Jewish bigotry."
Therein lies the nub of the matter. As AOC pointed out, both the Republicans and Trump face no push-back over their antisemitism, as long as they go along with AIPAC and Sheldon Adelson on the sale of weapons to Israel. We know they are bigots, but they go through the motions of supporting Israel so that makes them okay.
Omar faces worse threats to her life and safety than these men have ever known. Their status as wealthy (most are at least millionaires) white men protects them from the backlash she has endured. That is OUR shame. Now that the resolution has passed, let's see it in action in Congress on both sides of the aisle. McCathy, speak up against your good ol' boys. Their hatreds are many and manifest.
3
Oban invoked anti-semitic tropes? She did not, but Goldberg did by trying to put them in Oban's thoughts and intentions. That sort of thing is to be found daily in the ridiculous conflations that are uttered to keep frank talk about Israeli policies from being heard.
Oban is owed apologies. This is America, but so far we cannot have a frank, public discussion about Israeli policies. I am afraid the NYT is not exactly a truth-bearer in this space.
8
What Ms. Goldberg, Mr. Stephens and other opinion writers do not address is what Omar actually suggested: Why can't we investigate what AIPAC is doing? AIPAC has made it virtually a "crime" to challenge or investigate them. Same as we should investigate what Saudi Arabia or any other country is doing in Washington.
8
The history of anti-Semitism is shocking. However, I don't understand why the history of a religious and cultural group gives a nation a free pass to behave in less than civilized ways. One can sympathize with the plight of a people who are surrounded by those committed to victory or death. In the history of the world, however, such a situation is more common than rare.
The other issue here is the identification of American Jews with Israel. What hyphenated-American doesn't identify with the "old country," even if that old country came into existence after one's birth? However, I would assert that my American Jewish friends are as much like my Israeli friends as I am like Michael Collins.
How much does AIPAC influence American Middle East policy? If your answer is not at all, check your naivete at the door.
When Trump denies something that the whole world knows he did, we yawn. However, when members of my party engage in denial in order to pretend that the special relationship our government has with Bibi's does, in fact, not exist, I am outraged.
As a card-carrying nonbeliever, I find the vilification of one group who believes in an imaginary friend by another group who believes in a 2.0 (3.0?) version of that same imaginary friend tiresome and wonder why a supposedly civilized world can't come to some agreement about keeping imaginary things out of the public square.
Leave Omar alone unless you want to supplant the First Amendment with the Second. Savages.
8
As the world grows smaller, religion and the hate it brings from centuries past continues to cause divisions in 21st century America, the great melting pot.
2
if the Democratic Party , Margie, can be damaged in your words by the inclusion of some political neophytes from cultural roots that do not reflect the purity of american democracy and tolerance it would be fragile indeed. WE are the party of inclusion, even of inexperienced young Muslim women who have not yet grown the thick skin of hypocrisy that seasoned politicians have. Hopefully Ms. Omar will learn what the red party and its disgusting bigot of a leader has not, she represents others as well as herself and they may not all share her views, but represent them she must and put aside her narrow views of "the others" to do so.
2
I don't think there is any doubt about it. The tail (Israel) does vigorously wag the dog (USA). Why we the taxpayers continue to allow our money to go to Israel by the billions is more than I have ever been able to fathom. We get nothing in return and we should be spending those billions on better schools and teachers here in the USA.
7
This article is a classic example of attempting to distract from one wrongdoing by quoting the inevitable excessive flaming that happens ceaselessly online. Of course her anti-Jewish verbiage has drawn out over the top reaction—saying anything no matter how mild or extreme today will always draw extremist reaction. That is not the story to keep an eye on; it is the hate-driven remarks of a person elected to Congress that needs to be kept in focus.
7
What she says is true. What microagression? Associated with which words? And don't put "interpretations" by others to the fore. I stand with Ilhan. She is right. Israel MUST moderate and make friends rather than crush neighbors. My patience is almost gone, and I am a longtime fan of Israel. I cannot brook the Likud jack boot. I cannot.
7
"Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel and its most powerful American lobby, has invoked each of these tropes."
Debatable.
7
Whenever someone attacks Israel or Jews, I ask: does that person respect equal rights for Jews and the right of Israel to exist? If the answer is a no, my interest to have a dialogue is nil.
Please ask the questions plain and clearly to Rep. Omar!
14
My Democratic Congress Rep sends out info on bills that she is voting on that effect her constituents. Ms Omar just sent out a Tweet knocking M McCains interview with an Al Jazeera reporter where she discussed Anti Semitism. This woman is obsessed with issues that aren’t relevant to her constituents’ daily lives and she has the nerve to chastise supporters of Israel as having dual
loyalty.
12
When you bring up Trump's bigotry in comparison to Omar how exactly do you think this helps Omar?
Do people not understand that "whataboutism" is also a tacit admission of equivalence?
"Look Omar is just as bigoted as Trump." Is that really your message?
7
If money does not influence policy, then why do lobby groups spend money on influencing policy and why do their supporters give these lobby groups money to influence policy?
Will the leaders of AIPAC stand up at their upcoming conference and tell their donors to stop giving money because money does not affect policy?
Ilhan Omar has nothing to apologize for! Those who have weaponized the charge of antisemitism in order to stifle criticism of Israel and debate about US support of the Israeli Occupation and violations of Palestinian human rights are the people who should be ashamed.
6
Ms. Omar's minimalistic campaign kept her identity as her main message. She wisely kept quiet about her dislike of Israel and its supporters. Now that we know what matters to her, are we still going to buy into the fake bargain of voting on her identity in exchange for appearing the perfect anti-Trumpeans?
7
Good column. Given Omar's background, it isn't a shock if she lack sensitivity to anti semitic tropes. That does not absolve her anything. Nor does it justify her pillorying on a flagrant double standard. Perhaps she will learn quickly from this point. At the least we can hope she sees her expression as undermining legitimate criticism on the Netanyahu government and concern about the outsized role of AIPAC. Her attackers, of course, know better already.
I am just a simple minded old fool. The enemy of my enemy (unless it's Tuesday, which case he's my first cousin, twice removed) arguments--with endless caveats about which side of their mouth people happen to speaking from at any given moment--is just too nuanced for this old woman. Honestly, this is like Game of Thrones: I have lost track of the plot line.
And this is not a criticism of Goldberg's column. This is just America today.
1
Giving full respect to the racism inherent in the "Wealthy Jews using money to run the whole world" narrative, it should still be noted that Ms. Omar mentioned a specific subset of Jews, AIPAC, and did not attribute the buying (whether false or true) to Jews, in general.
In a time when we decry the outright purchase of our legislatures by way of lobbyist's campaign contributions, it seems to me to be more than slightly obtuse to claim that AIPAC, alone, out of all the others, is not attempting to do so.
We live in a time when fossil fuel lobbyists literally write laws concerning their industry and the environment. Labor laws are dictated by industry and gun control, in most states (yours being an absolutely great exception) merely means hitting the target on the first shot. Why would we not expect a pro-Israel lobby to do otherwise?
Doing so is not due to the heritage of the those undertaking the action, but due to their job description.
I do hope, however that the current discussions can be, perhaps, lifted to a meaningful level, beyond the current "you did it, too and yours is worse than mine."
Republicans are the party of white nationalism and racism, manifested in their repugnant leader.
Without question, Rep. Omar suffered spending 4 years in a refugee camp and relocating to a country where she has been bullied by Muslim haters. And she continues to be bullied for being Muslim.
But if Rep. Omar is to remain in the House, she desperately needs wise people to help her with her public statements or she's going to have nothing but trouble & eventually lose her job.
The Democrats cannot be seen to harbor an anti-semite & Rep. Omar faces a very difficult future if she is seen to be an anti-semite. At the very list, she'll be targeted by haters who will make sure she loses her House seat - & quickly.
Rep. Omar should be respected for her personal courage & her fortitude in becoming an elected official at a relatively young age -- after experiencing a difficult youth.
I tend to believe she's not necessarily a true anti-semite but rather someone who's fallen victim to stupid rhetoric. As the columnist has pointed out, there are far more aggressive racists & anti-semites on the Republican side, including a president who was silent when his campaign used a picture of HRC transposed onto a Star of David to smear Clinton.
Whatever the truth is, if only some wise people will take Rep. Omar in hand & assist her in navigating her job & the intense public exposure that will continue to bedevil her if she can't learn to make more restrained & mature comments.
2
Omar's statements, in fact her very presence in Congress, raises so many issues, unfortunately, all of them tied to the high level of racial animosity in the US. Just read internet postings and you will learn that Muslims are vilified to the greatest extent of any minority with the possible exception of members of the LGBTQ community. There are millions of Americans who firmly believe that no Muslim should be permitted to be in Congress, let alone take the loyalty oath with a hand on the Koran. Voters will tie her to 9/11. Some Jews will secretly believe that she seeks the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately again, this situation results in a racially slanted microscopic scrutiny of Omar's statements. Republicans, Jews, anti-Muslims and fundamentalist Christians will spin and distort her comments to further their prejudiced viewpoints. I commend her for her courage. I would not want to be her speech writer.
4
Thank you for this very balanced and explicit column.
The problem with these kind of micro-aggressions, especially against Jews, is that their "double-entendre" will be immediately decoded by the most despicable parts of our society. Sadly enough, antisemitism also works like a sort of "secret society", one that certainly has its coded language. She should have known better.
4
Criticizing Israel’s brutality and property theft is not anti Semitic. The fact that Jewish groups are surpressing free speech is evidence for me that their must be some truth. We were dragged into Middle East wars by by both American and Israeli with cheer leaders from evangelicals. I am sick and angry that Israel dictates our foreign policies.
3
Democrats do not need to tie themselves up in knots and self flagellate endlessly because republicans keep shouting at them. It’s ridiculous. Ilhan Omar is Palestinian /American. That’s her perspective. She doesn’t like Israel. That’s her prerogative. The US supports Israel, and Omar wants lawmakers to question that support. By the way, at least republicans have found a newer, younger boogywoman.
2
You have stated these “tropes” in extremely bizarre language that Rep Omar did not use. Moreover it is time that those in the news and politics understand that this so called “trope” language does not mean anything to most people. It is not the loaded secret language to us that it appears to be to you!
3
Can we talk about Palestinians for a change? How can Israel treat people like that? How? How?
7
I grew up watching Palestine's refusal to acknowledge the fledgling nation: "We will drive you into the sea." This hostility was delivered to Jews driven out of Europe by the Holocaust. The new settlers persevered and created a modern country out of the desert. Now the tables are turned, and Palestineans are being held in what are essentially holding pens. I favor a two-state solution. It worked for India (Hindus)and Pakistan (Muslims). I don't like what Israel is doing to her Muslims, but I am not convinced her Muslims are willing to concede that Israel has a right to exist. Tragically, Ilhan confirms that fear. Her comments that Jews cannot be loyal to their country of residence is a way of saying they don't belong anywhere.
10
"The identity politics fiasco surrounding Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been excruciating."
Identity politics are a fiasco for the US.
2
Please note Clyburn included his own personal reference distinguishing about “actually being a slave” vs having previous generations of family members who were slaves in his explanation of Omar’s perspective and her direct experience...it wasn’t just about the Holocaust
1
There is a difference between an anti-semitic trope and a “fact”.
If I say, AIPAC is spending Benjamins to control the Congress then that is a fact.
However, if I say Jews are spending Benjamins to control the US Govt then that says I am merely repeating historical assumptions.
During the Middle Ages, Jews in Europe were prohibited to own any means of production so the only economic recourse was available to then was money lending and were in the margins of the society. When Capitalism came, they came out of the margins to the top of the society. A historically vilified people now in control of financial markets was like an African American as the US President.
That was bad. Ms Omar should not remind them of their underclass past but point out what organization is doing wrong NOW.
In the meantime read “The Merchant of Venice” and write a note on “Shylock was more wronged than he was wrong”.
Like several other new House members, she appears to be grossly unskilled at managing media attention, which she helps generate, and not too bright about how all words matter when speaking on behalf of her 500,000 constituents. It's not about you, Representative, its about your electorate. Get over yourself.
4
To try and get to the bottom of anti-Semitism, or language that seems to suggest some anti-Semitic purpose, all too often means trotting out anecdotes, depending on one's thesis, in which Jews figure as heroes and villains - such an approach, if one's purpose is to condemn anti-Semitism, is totally counterproductive - akin to Bill Maher's blaming America for the attacks of 9/11. Some Jews are bad. Some Jews are good. Some Jews want to rule the world. Some Jews want to enjoy their breakfast in peace, and may not even care to reflect upon their Jewish heritage all day. Anti-Semites themselves, what makes them haters, what could make them see the world a little more clearly, should be the proper starting and ending point for all discussions of hatred against Jews.
Through the years I have made 4,000 or so "Comments".
If I have read the "Resolution" correctly, then it is my understanding that what I am about to write is EXACTLY what the "Resolution" demands that I NOT write.
I am not an "anti-Semite".
Webster's Dictionary defines a "Semite" as "one of a people of Caucasian stock, now represented by the Jews and Arabs, but originally including the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, etc."
A person can be "anti-Jew".
A person can be "anti-Israel" or "anti-Israeli".
A person can be "anti-Zionist".
But one cannot be an "anti-Semite".
How many times, over the years, have I made that point?
Well, it turns out that I am in violation of "Resolution 183" even by making that statement.
If I read "Resolution 183" correctly, then everything I have ever said about Israel is now forbidden, right down and including, that Israel and I are the same age.
I, too, am almost 71.
I suspect that that also violates "Resolution 183".
Here are a few more things I can never say again:
I am atheist. Why should my tax money go to a theocracy?
I am atheist: Yes, I am "anti-Jew",
Just as I am also anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist, anti-, anti-..... anti-ALL religions.
That is because I am female.
There isn't one religion that holds a female equal to a male.
Not one.
"Resolution 183" puts every religion over a female.
So, there we are.
I am female .
I am atheist.
And 183 is the proto-type of a "Blasphemy Law".
USA - RIP
8
I am not going to give cover to right-wing antisemties by minimizing their racial and religious slurs against Omar. They are repulsive. But what said was repulsive too, and cannot be easily forgotten or forgiven. More than a hundred years ago, Captain Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, was stripped of his rank and jailed on the spurious charge of spying. The real charge was double loyalty: the unspoken assumption that a Jew cannot be a loyal citizen of France. The Dreyfus affair tore Europe apart, exposing the depth of antisemitism that eventually resulted in the Holocaust. It prompted Emile Zola, a passionate defender of Dreyfus, to write his famous “J’accuse”. It also prompted an Austrian journalist named Theodor Herzl to start a campaign for a Jewish nation-state because he realized that Jews would never be safe in Europe. If Omar does not know this history, she should learn. Maybe then she would understand why denying Israel’s right to exit, while accusing Jewish citizens of other nation of double loyalty, raises specters of persecution and genocide.
7
Most new employees start off asking where the restrooms are, what's a good place to eat, getting to know their peers and superiors, doing grunt work to absorb info like the sponge they need to be. That norm must extend to congress-- urgently. This freshman, the AOC and the rest of this gang of newbies-- all need to start, well, fresh. Nancy P needs to call them all into a meeting in her office and advise them that the best strategy for new kids is to zip their lips. Spend a good 6 months listening, learning the laws of the jungle, absorbing tradition, determine who their allies are, and above all-- express the importance of the Democratic sticking together because they must win. Come on Nancy-- step up and control these little foolish people before they destroy the democratic party that MUST WIN. Ask these folks what they prefer: a democratic party with whom you cannot agree 100% of the time, being in power; or the fascism that trump and the GOP will bring us if THEY win? That outcome won't end well for muslims or latinas-- that is what they need to understand before this civil war is lost to their bad behavior and foolishness.
1
Here is the perception: Anyone can be insensitive but it is ok for Democrats to be insensitive because they are member of my tribe.
1
Michelle, reading this column, and so many others gives me an understanding of why Republicans are so successful in getting away with outrageous behavior.
Because they are assertive and they stick together.
We Jews need to get over ourselves and stop accusing everyone for whom the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people are not the defining points of their existence as anti-semites.
It is perfectly understandable how the plight of the Palestinians would resonate with a black muslim woman who grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp. And for too many Jews, therein lies the problem. The reality is that many, many Israelis are perfectly fine ignoring the conditions in which Palestinians live and unwilling to acknowledge the role it plays in encouraging extremism. In fact, they take pains to deny it.
Given Trump's amorality, his fondness for the world's strong men, his belief in putting business interests above all else, and his stated preference for Nordic countries and nordic looking people, it is no stretch to imagine that Donald Trump living in 1930s America would have been sympathetic to Hitler and his regime. After all he put on a beautiful Olympics, didn't he.
Republicans are happy to take any issue that divides Democrats and play it up, but we should not let them. Obsessing over microaggressions to the glee of the bullies in the Republican establishment is absurd.
4
Being Dem or Rep - doesn't matter. This is just wrong and sad that you cant see it! Amazing!
1
And this week congresswoman Omar became the targeted, selected "the other"in America's enabled, daily, historically-anchored, traditionalized, WE-THEY violating culture. A scenario created by her own words; whatever her and their intent. Historical and current derived meanings.Used and to be used by... What is missing for me, hours before the Sabbath in Jerusalem, amidst a potentially criminal national leadership, some actual or potential "racist" Jews,JINOs, numbers of some violating Muslims-in-name-only,-MINOs- and some supporting Christians-CINOs- awaiting the End of Days for me to remain as an identified Jew, is the absence of personal accountability. By so, so many! All over. For harmful voiced and written words. For harmful done-deeds. Congresswoman Omar, in a menschlich world, would take responsibility for her words, whatever their intent. Should she do so, she will be an outlier. A "Black Swan" in a swamp of political hypocrisy supported by a diverse population of complaining, competing, "complacents" and "complicits." How many of "them"[aka US] are devout anti-"menschlichites" practicing, but not yet adequately proficient, in anti-menschlichism?
Dreadful as Rep. Omar's early life may have been, it is not the life of an American Black woman. She has no sense of our history and, particularly, the support that Jews have provided to the Civil Rights movement. To paraphrase MLK, the brush of American politics is very broad, but it bends toward sensationalism. She is the wrong woman saying the wrong things at the wrong time.
Rep. Omar didn't ask for 9/11, but people who look like her and dress like her and pray like her perpetrated it, which, fairly or not, gives her and imposes on her, respectively, the opportunity and obligation to be a peacemaker, not a firebrand.
That's just how things work in a country of 300 million people who have only images to go by. Perhaps if she and AOC and Ms. Tlaib would spend some times as back benchers, learning the difference between a beacon and a blowtorch, we would all be the better for it.
3
The uproar generated by Ms. Omar's remarks about the influence of AIPAC drove home her point.
4
I am appalled of the vilification of Rep Ilhan Omar.
I have always supported the right of the Israeli people to have a state but not at the marginalization of others and the illegal land grabs on the west bank.
Many Jewish critics on the left including jstreet.org criticize AIPAC's control.
Excerpt from Jeff Cohen in Truthdig March 2007, 2019 vis-a-vis the hypocritical "Hate Resolution".
"The Democratic Party Has Failed Ilhan Omar"
The resolution was originated by two New York Democrats who are among Congress’s most longstanding pro-Israel diehards: Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey. Both endorsed George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion. Both opposed Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. Both supported Donald Trump’s move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
I’m a proud Jew who was raised in a liberal family that supported civil rights and human rights.Like many Jews with this background, I’ve grown increasingly ashamed of Israel.
For 40 years, Israel has been ruled mostly by a series of right-wing governments—more and more openly racist and abusive of Palestinian rights. It’s not the land of tree-planting, kibbutzim and “a country treating its Arab minority nicely” that we were sold as youngsters.
That’s why a large number of proud Jewish Americans—raised to believe in civil liberties and open discussion—are appalled by the campaign to muzzle Omar, as well as Pelosi’s role in it. We’re also appalled that human rights-abusing Israel is virtually off-limits to debate.
4
Priorities and party discipline, people.
I put most of this spectacle on Rep. Omar. She ought to realize that questions of allegiance to foreign ANYTHING and racist prejudices are most likely to be directed towards Muslim women with head scarves in the halls of Congress while there's been officially sanctioned and bloody wars and hatred of Muslums since 9/11.
Whatever you might think about the similar cheekiness of freshmen backbenchers AOC in boldly promoting their agendas, they do stay on message with the party's more important agendas like HR-1 and Green New Deal.
Sorry, Ms. Omar. For a freshman to be stirring up the pot about Isreal and the Isreal lobby and pushing the most difficult and intractable problem of Palestinians right now is off message, divisive and downright dumb. Take a seat and say off Twitter until you have something productive to add.
3
Let's put this way.
Why Ms. Ilhan Omar is absolutely wrong.
In American media Fox state TV is the forerunner of what Americans listen and tune. Nothing new here, Fox with their unrepentant bigotry can outrun any democratic message. This is a fact.
Since Trump won the election, islamophobia and Anti-Semitism exploded.
Ilhan Omar should know better when she spoke with Anti-Semitic ideas , she is back stabbing democratic party and given a just nice propaganda material to Fox TV. In short she can be way more careful and elaborate if she wants to criticize Israel which is absolutely welcome.
If she is just going to talk because she can talk , Yeah Trump is doing the best job. We are trying to repair the damage done by Trump. Ilhan Omar is not helping at the moment.
When GOP ilk or Trump ilk spewed Islamophobic garbage and insults who stand on their way , who supported Muslims, American Jews. please be more intellectual , educated, considerate and helping to Democrat party , don't become a sore spot.
1
Everyone's in a tizzy. All because a favorite lobbyist was called, a lobbyist!
That's why we've elected Progressives, to do what the paid-off parties will not do - slap down lobbyists. We need to get rid of both parties and their hundreds of lobbyists. Watch them squeal.
This has nothing to do with AIPAC or Israel or Jews or Muslims or women. That's all cover to keep the spotlight away from the Lobbyists who keep the status quo in power and privilege at our expense.
If you want to take your country back, start at the top.
5
This is the same kind of GOP propaganda tactic that was used recently to deride the women's march because some leaders were in the same room when Louis Farrakhan included racist comments in a speech.
It is same kind of GOP propaganda tactic that Rick Wilson employed against Obama known as the "Reverend Wright Controversy".
Both episodes delight the right (unite them, in fact) because they feel it levels the playing field, as if gaffes were equal to condoning actual fascist militias on their side.
Just as white children can sell lemonade on the sidewalk or misbehave publicly without being arrested or shot like their darker-skinned counterparts, "guilt by proximity" is applied unevenly. Whites, particularly men, are given a pass, but god help you if you are a woman of color -- you will be stoned by men who live in gated communities of glass houses.
2
I treasure the increased diversity of Democrats in Congress. Having taught a number of African students, I'm delighted they can see Representative Omar's success.
I hope she will spend more time helping us understand the world she came from and the struggles she and other Muslims face.
So many of my students from foreign countries need strong and effective advocates for immigration reform.
Representative Omar has a voice and a platform she can use to do good. She will be most effective if she doesn't say things that appear to tear down others via microaggressions. Her task is hard enough already.
256
@kathyb that voice of diversity just trashed President Obama in Politico, saying he is just as bad as Mr Trump.
Well that is diversity all right,
30
@kathybdo not-DO NOT CARE about this muslims "struggles" she is not there for all that. what about representing americans. i hope this persons tenure is very brief.
8
First, Ilhan Omar -- and all Democrats -- could save themselves a world of hurt if they would stop using Twitter as their go-to megaphone. If your thought has to be expressed in fewer than 140 characters, it probably isn't developed enough to disseminate.
But since this story began, I have had a growing perplexity about tropes in discourse. I fully understand the existence and the long and horrific history of the trope linking Jews and money. Like a lot of Americans, I am concerned about wealthy donors buying political influence, and three of my greatest concerns are Charles and David Koch and Sheldon Adelson. If I wish to avoid engaging in anti-Semitic tropes, must I restrict my criticisms to the Koch brothers and give Adelson a pass? I am concerned about the future of a free press in the US and Adelson's purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal; among other things, it was the only major newspaper in the US to endorse Trump in 2016. If I were Israeli, I would be equally concerned about Adelson's purchase of Israel Hayom, with the largest daily circulation in Israel; its openly partisan support for Netanyahu by running fawning coverage of the PM and burying critical stories weakens Israeli democracy. But in saying this, am I resurrecting anti-Semitic tropes linking Jews, money and influence?
This doesn't excuse Omar, but it suggests that American Jews and non-Jews need to have a serious conversation about how to criticize without hateful rhetoric.
6
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am amazed at many of the unfair comments about this op-ed. They express certainty that Omar's remarks are primarily or even completely motivated by anti-Semitism. Her regrettably remarks are directly tied to US policy regarding Israel, a political state deserving of all the due respect and criticism of any such state. Israel happens to be organized as a Jewish homeland which has been roundly criticized for its occupation and exploitation of lands not recognized as part of Israel. Omar has stumbled into providing ammunition for those who wish to change the focus away from Israel's behavior and to paint all of its strongest critics as anti-Semites.
2
The rise in slander and negative comments based on bias or other has definitively increase during the Trump era..another or many reasons to displace him from office.
Having served in the Middles East and Afghanistan...people will ask what is the religious meaning of women being "covered". The degree of being "covered" depends on the cultural and religious strength of Islam.
But, the general reply is: Men demand that men only "think" about Allah, or Islamic "God". If women are not "covered", then men "dream or think" of women in a sexual way..therefore, women must (in some cases under the threat of death) must be covered as a way of submitting to men's wishes and demands.
When I see Omar covered, she is exemplifying the sufferance of women within the Islamic faith..she is reinforcing men's demands and as such is a 2nd class citizen...even in America.
Frankly, I do not like to see this in America where everyone is equal regardless of faith, color, creed or gender....
3
This incredible overreaction to Congresswoman Omar's comments are all related to watch she wears on her head.
Much of what she says is true, though her words could certainly have been chosen more carefully.
I don't know if there is another country in the world that enjoys "most favored nation" status as much as Israel. We all know why. A functioning democracy in a region without many. A buffer against regional anti-U.S. and anti-West interests. A strong filial relationship with much of the West, especially the U.S. and Great Britain.
Yet that democracy keeps electing Netanyahu who is a pretty disgusting individual and who has done horrible things to an already oppressed Palestinian people. We should speak up against that kind of behavior and I am glad that Omar has.
I wonder if there would be the same reaction had someone without a hijab said the same things?
2
I have to wonder why she doesn't criticize Saudi Arabia. Among other things, women are horribly oppressed there. Also, her words would be more valid if she acknowledged the role Palestinians have played in the conflict.
2
Illuminating well-balanced column.
"She (Ms. Omar) is treated as a dangerous foreign interloper in American politics and the embodiment of anti-Semitism, even though her Republican colleagues routinely demonstrate far worse anti-Jewish bigotry."
This speaks volumes about divisive double standards in America, for those willing to listen.
In America, racism and discrimination, like income disparities, are manipulated to win elections for Republicans. But the mild anti-Semitism of Omar is what gets the headlines. It's like the justice system - if an impoverished person is caught shoplifting the punishment can be prison time, but if a wealthy person is caught shoplifting, he or she will get a slap on the wrist.
As Hillary Clinton said 25 years ago, "There's a vast right wing conspiracy..."
IMO, in 2019 the imperative to help Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Libyans, and others devastated by Middle East wars far outweighs the offense of mild anti-Semitism.
Many Americans have priorities the rest of the world finds offensive.
4
I'm Jewish, and I am fine with Congresswoman Omar's statements. AIPAC doesn't care about human rights, and they have enormous political power in the US--perhaps on par with the NRA.
Secondly, this episode provides yet more evidence of the GOP's pearl-clutching hypocrisy, and the all-too eager Democratic leadership to succumb to the narrative written by GOP hypocrites.
Only a few months ago President Trump LITERALLY proclaimed himself proud to be called White Nationalist. WHAT? Where was the outrage? The President has amplified anti-semitic, xenophobic voices regularly. Where is the outrage? The President, Minority leader McCarthy and other White Men of the GOP have trafficked in these same stereotypes--often even worse and more direct in their prejudice--than Rep. Omar. Where is the outrage? Crickets.
In my opinion, this is much ado about nothing. Until Donald Trump and Republicans are held to the same standard as Rep. Omar, a freshman, who herself faces disgusting racism from Fox News, Breitbart and the rest of the Right Wing Media Machine--let's not put any stock in Republicans' feigned offense.
They're not offended; They simply see a political opportunity to hurt Democrats. And, sadly, the Democrats are too interested in pleasing everyone, so they fall into the trap.
7
@Gabriel
Could not agree more
3
great column. but you cut her too much slack, she is a 3-time offender. either this is purposeful (for her "base" - remember, she didn't even pull a majority in her primary) or if "inadvertent" (i doubt it) she needs some "work" to exorcise such demons. i hope it is the latter and i hope she can grow out of what are ignorant prejudices of her own. she has potential IF she can see her way clear to growing even at age 37 (the new 21). and drop the invocations of Allah - ours is a secular government. no doubt the drumbeat is light-years more offensive on the MAGA side but still don't lower yourself to play by their rules.
5
The hand-wringing by various NY Times columnists on this subject is both laughable and a reflection of the privileged world in which they operate. It is also instructive to note the lack of diversity within the cadre of opinion givers. Thus, I am not surprised at your failure to recognize that the real aggression (micro or otherwise) is that which occurs when a person of color, regardless of religious belief or station in life, dares to offer an opinion or any form of criticism against the policies of the government of Israel.
6
Some of Omar's comments were anti-semitic and offensive.
Some of the criticism and opprobrium leveled against her was anti-Muslim and offensive.
So there is a kind of ugly balance.
It is stereotypically Jewish for Goldberg to twist herself into a pretzel about this.
1
Right now the Democratic Party needs to focus on a united opposition to all things Trump and defeat him and all the vile things he and his party stand for. Addressing the many issues regarding justice towards all , discrimination against the many different groups and fighting the very many hate groups are always important but they need to be dealt with one voice. Ilhan Omar must understand that her attitude is divisive and will only help Trump and his mean followers win. First things first .
Just because Republicans traffic in anti-Semitic thoughts and court white supremacists for electoral advantage does not lessen the bar for Representative Omar. She is an elected leader, a national figure, and a model of success for others to follow. Her repeated, almost compulsive, reliance on anti-Semitic tropes show that she is not up to the job. A petty mind with no reflection and misguided pride. She is more similar to President Trump that we want to acknowledge.
3
The one thing I find objectionable in this column by the wonderful Michelle Goldberg is the word "inadvertent," vis-a-vis the congresswoman's "micro-aggressions." She is welcome to criticize Israel as she sees fit and question the amount of support the United States grants Israel, though she might want to consider that even with the horror that is Netanyahu, Israel is still the only (somewhat worn down) democracy in the region. Moreover, I find Omar's "micro-aggressions" to be anti-semitic tropes that are either intentional or a product of ignorance. She won't be getting any more passes from me, nor does she deserve any more chances from the democratic house. The next time she falters in her appraisal of Jews she should be censured and stripped of her responsibilities. That the president and many republicans are just as bad, if not worse, is no consolation.
7
The problem is that she's correct. AIPAC has a become a right wing , conservative tool. Trump and Netanyahu have eliminated the injured party , the Palestinians , from the equation. All the work of the past 60 years to reach a reasonable two state solution as been undone and Jerusalem proclaimed the capitol of Israel by Trump who has absolutely no say in the matter.
The fanatical far religious right , urged on by Netanyahu , wants to see an Armageddon in the Middle East resulting in the raptures , an ascent to Heaven for true believers only, and the ash heap for all others.
Ian Fleming could not make this stuff up , but there it is.
Netanyahu is a warlord. Trump is nuts for listening to him.
And AIPAC certainly does not express the views of the majority of American Jewish folk. Nor does it express the views of the !st Amendment regarding the freedom of speech.
8
1. I’m proudly Jewish, given the values that our religious tradition exposed me to.
2. I dispise the leaders of Israel, who say they are Jewish but certainly don’t display the values I was exposed to at home or at temple.
3. I live near the tip of the left wing and am tired of the unwillingness of the DemocratIC party to distance itself from the evil-doings of the leadership of Israel.
4. Why haven’t they? They’re scared drekless of taking on the pro-Israeli faction in the party. Why? Come on, already.
It IS fear of losing votes from this group.
It IS fear of losing their substantial financial support.
It IS the fear of being labeled anti-Semetic.
It IS an affliation with the state of Israel that bends policies to suit Israeli’s policies and values, certainly not mine as a citizen of the USA.
Oy vey.
13
No, you've got it precisely backward. Her offense was grievous and hypocritical. The response not so at all.
5
The real double standard here is that as a Muslim who apparently takes her faith so seriously she wears a headscarf is spouting off anti-Semitic statements without her very likely unconscious and learned biases being called into question.
When whites or men make these kinds of "I didn't mean to" kind of statements about people of color or men, dozens of column inches are devoted to their unconscious racism and misogyny.
Yet we're supposed to just take it on faith that Omar doesn't suffer from the same kinds of biases against Jews? I find it extremely likely that anyone raised in an observant Islamic environment is exposed to constant anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Sure, they may reject it, but propaganda and culture create biases in people even when they choose to reject them.
It's very likely Omar does hold some of these beliefs, whether she believes it herself or not. If she can be excused from unconscious bias against Jews, then nobody can be held accountable for that concept. Omar doesn't get a pass because she's young, naive or liberal.
229
@Mobocracy
You give her the benefit of the doubt... I do not. Her statements are calculated and intentional. In this era of "good people on both sides" Trump, we do not need this source of anti-Semitic venom in our government.
Rep. Omar deserves no seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and it is an inexcusable act of cowardice on the part of Democrats not to have censored her.
29
@Mobocracy And yet, why this weeks long focus on her statements when Trump, the GOP, whites and men say far worse things than this on a daily, hourly basis?
The focus on Omar's statements is driven by her gender and her ethnicity. If she were a GOP senator saying equally bad things about muslims, there wouldn't even be a article in the Times about it, because it's so commonplace.
45
@Todd “Unconcious bias” is a charge that no one can defend themselves from. Let her be judged strictly on the statements she’s made (granted that some have been incriminating) and the votes she’s cast in House. Unless you know her personally, of course.
6
Criticism of a country's policies is legitimate; we all do that. Illan Omar chose to include stereotypical anti-Semitic dog whistles, and this is unacceptable.
She is entitled to her opinions and entitled to express them in our democratic climate; this is a fundamental basis of our Constitution. However, as a lawmaker, one who is in the spotlight, one whose every word is reported and dissected, she must learn be more diplomatic in the keeping of her role as a Representative in the House. This is not to stifle nor repress her, but let's get civility back into our Congress. We're done with chaos.
5
It may be, as some posters would have it, that Republicans are using Omar's remarks to go bonkers against the Democrats. But that bonkering is as nothing compared to the Democrats' own version of bonkerism, as we watch Ms. Pelosi go quite mad trying to iron out her own party's internal strife regarding Omar, as brought about by its efforts to be all things to all people at all times, this with the result that it is perceived, even by some of its own members, as now truly being nothing to anyone at any time, and with its only definable objective being to hate and ultimately impeach Mr. Trump. But, that objective is hardly an agenda, and as the only other platform they have that might rise to the level of an agenda is Socialism, it should make for a very interesting 2020 presidential race after the bodies have been swept away.
1
I believe that Ms. Omar has, as do all Americans, the right of free speech, so although I am offended by some of her comments, I strongly defend her right to make them; however, as the duly elected representative of the fifth Congressional district of Minnesota, I believe that the real question is whether her offensive remarks truly reflect the attitudes and thoughts of her Minnesota constituents; if they do then we have a very significant problem that must be discussed, but if, as I suspect, they do not then the people of the fifth district should hold her accountable and if necessary recall her.
1
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Again, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH WHAT SHE SAID. Not even micro-wrong. She is absolutely correct.
As far as I'm concerned, anything that a foreign country has to say to our government should go through their ambassador, period. Any form of financial expenditure to exert influence on the US government should be a prosecutable offense.
16
@S. B. You do know that AIPAC is a lobbying group representing Americans, correct? It may be Americans who have a strong interest in Israel, but there is nothing foreign about AIPAC.
3
It is past time to stop talking about statements as "insensitive" or as "micro-aggressions" and just ask if there is truth in the statement.
Those who focus on the "sensitivity" of comments instead of their truthfulness manipulate those with whom they disagree into self-censoring. Those who take offense at "micro-aggressions" need to toughen up and engage on the facts and not their own feelings.
5
No part of me is angry at Congresswoman Omar. A large part of me is perpetually angry that questioning American foreign policy vis a vis Israel is equated with anti-Semitism. If Omar has accomplished nothing else, she's at least brought that into the open.
Part of me is angry that response to Omar's statements reflect this false equivalency. Rather than discussions of foreign policy, public outcry primarily focuses on anti-Semitism, degrees of anti-Semitism, protests against anti-Semitism, and analysis of whether Omar is or is not anti-Semitic.
Omar opened the door to a wider conversation. American foreign policy in the Middle East from Israel to Gaza to Saudi Arabia to Yemen to Qatar to Iran is a disaster and a humanitarian disgrace.
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the United States are disgraceful.
But they're not the same.
14
@Nereid. She is not even questioning foreign policy since she knows nothing about it. She is just sticking up for Palestinians.
She may be careless but she's also playing to her base, perhaps even unconsciously, just like so many other politicians are doing. If she really wants to do some good, she could focus on criticizing specific acts and policies that Israel, or the U.S., is putting forth and quit making vague allusions.
This Opinion asks Muslim, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, to articulate her criticisms of Israel and our relationship to it in such convoluted language that very few would understand what she was talking about. I had to read Goldberg's Opinion twice to find out what she was angry about and to figure out what she meant as a solution. The culprits of bigotry and hatred in our government often get away with murder and are almost never shamed as Ilhan Omar has been for far, far less. Has the amount of aid we give to Israel been fully argued? Have the civil rights abuses of Arabs in Israel been given anywhere near the same attention as the abuses in other countries? Is it possible to have a more objective view of Israel's policies? Was it a failure of Congresswoman Omar to raise these questions or does she need to take speech lessons from Michelle Goldberg?
3
Did she make opposition to Israel a priority in her platform? Is this what she ran on? Is this what her constituents had a right to expect? I kinda doubt it.
6
Audaz, respectfully, Ilhan Omar was explicit in her opion about the Israeli government and its inappropriate influence in American politics during the campaign. She is correct that AIPAC represents not Americans, but the Israeli government. It operates above American law by speaking directly to our politicians and by not respecting our requirements that its demands to our government be addressed through the Department of State.
2
Unfortunately, this entire episode reveals the levels of cultural illiteracy among both politicians and journalists in American life.
Is it any wonder that Donald Trump is President?
6
Jim Clyburn's response is why I reject identity politics and the game of intersectional hierarchy of victimhood.
He is arguing that because Omar experienced suffering first hand and is +3 in intersectional victimhood points(black, muslim, and female), her perspective is more important since Jews are barely +0.5 in intersectional victimhood points (after all, Holocaust suffering was a long time ago).
I believe in equal rights, not special rights. Omar shouldn't be given a free pass on antisemitism because of her background or the sufferring she has experienced.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/432968-new-cracks-emerge-in-dem-unity
Clyburn came to Omar’s defense Wednesday, lamenting that many of the media reports surrounding the recent controversy have omitted mentioning that Omar, who was born in Somalia, had to flee the country to escape violence and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before coming to the United States.
Her experience, Clyburn argued, is much more empirical — and powerful — than that of people who are generations removed from the Holocaust, Japanese internment camps during World War II and the other violent episodes that have marked history.
“I’m serious about that. There are people who tell me, ‘Well, my parents are Holocaust survivors.’ ‘My parents did this.’ It’s more personal with her,” Clyburn said. “I’ve talked to her, and I can tell you she is living through a lot of pain.”
2
I don’t expect much from Republicans. I hold my party, liberals and Democrats, to a higher standard. You are letting Omar off the hook. She knows exactly what she’s doing.
I’m sure trump is a big Omar fan. With her lack of diplomacy and hatred she’s hijacked the discussion and
Action on policies that are of crucial importance to our country. It’s a disgrace that Michelle, also Jew, gives Omar a pass.
7
@FJM (who wants to cut to the chase since he is in a great hurry)
I cannot even begin to state what is wrong with your categories and definitions.
So I will cut to the chase:
Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism.
Semites by the way include Arabs and of course Palestinians who are mostly Arabs.
You can be anti-Zionist and not an Anti-Semite. Noam Chomsky is one obvious example. I will add myself as the second being a Jew, a descendent of Inquisition, pogrom and holocaust victims and survivors including many a rabbi and even a grand rabbi.
Rhetoric is cheap and very easy. Especially when it is of the kind AIPAC types engage in.
Michele Goldberg is an excellent and progressive writer I usually agree with. It looks like she has hangups like all human beings do. If she thinks a little she will see that Omar did not do anything wrong.
8
Could we all please stop referring to every person who is clearly not from a Caucasian (white, European, etc.) ethnic group as "black"? Black and white are clearly opposites and so totally inappropriate terms to describe the incredible variety of skin tones found in Homo sapiens.
1
I agree with the overall sentiment of this piece. But I think it's dangerous to take words out of context. Omar's most recent comments said nothing of dual loyalty. In context, they were correctly pointing to what AIPAC does, which in fact absolutely advocates for "allegiance" to Israel and it's policies. She did not say that those in office who support Israel exhibit "dual loyalty". And the same goes with Clyburn. He wasn't minimizing the Holocaust, but recognizing that Omar experienced atrocities 1st hand instead of being removed by a generation or more. Shame on journalists like Michelle Goldberg and others for selective quoting things. Here is what Clyburn said, and Omar's full statement can be found at this link: http://www.publicseminar.org/2019/03/in-defense-of-ilhan-omar-again/ ""A lot of people in this caucus will talk about slavery. We never experienced slavery. A lot of our people will talk about the Holocaust. You didn’t experience the Holocaust. You may have inherited its legacy, and I’ve inherited the legacy of slavery."
4
"Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel...." No she didn't. It doesn't matter what she said, it's why she said It. Omar's comments are out of ignorance and hatred, and in no way eliciting the type of discussion we need to have on the topic.
6
Inveighing against identity politics while invoking micro-aggressions is a neat trick.
3
so what's the proper way to criticize Israel? Lest I be labeled anti-semitic?
10
@Concerned Citizen Why is it that no one criticizes 'Palestine'? They are the ones sending rockets, kite bombs etc. to harm innocent Israelis. Is Israel just supposed to sit back and let this continue?
3
@Concerned Citizen
1. Avoid using language and imagery from the Elders of Zion.
2. Don't imply that the Americans who fund AIPAC are disloyal or hold dual loyalties.
3. Don't argue that Israel doesn't have the right to exist, is a historical mistake, or is simply the product of European colonialism. Unless you also argue that Canada, United States, and Australia don't have the right to exist because land was stolen, you are applying a different standard to Jewish people. More obviously, if you are opposed to the existence of Israel more than 60 years after her modern founding, you cannot deal with reality on reality's terms.
4. Acknowledge that Arafat and Palestinian leadership have repeatedly bungled chances to have their own free country. Condemn the use of human shields. Criticize Hamas for throwing gay Palestinians off buildings.
If you are capable of doing all of the above, then your criticism is legitimate. If not, you are just antisemitic disguising your hatred with a veil.
1
I spent the last month in a town where Jewish refugees, escaping the Holocaust, got smuggled out of Portugal on fishing boats that took them out to freighters. The freighters crossed an Atlantic patrolled by Nazi U boats. Those Jewish refugees built new lives in North America.
Does Ilhan Omar, herself a refugee who was able to flee from terror and poverty in Somalia and build a life in the USA that she never would have been able to build in Somalia--does she have any understanding of what the Jewish people endured in the 20th Century, and how the Jews rose from the ashes of the Holocaust to stand tall and survive and live free today in Israel?
***
In my unit in the Marines, hostage rescues and raids were two of our core missions. We studied the Raid on Entebbe and respected immensely the Israeli commandos who carried out that brilliant, daring raid. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and my allegiance is only to one country, the USA. Now, would Ilhan Omar care to comment on the fact that the Grand Mufti in Jerusalem openly supported Hitler and the Nazis during WWII? The fact is, the Grand Mufti was the number one Palestinian leader and the most respected Muslim imam in Jerusalem and he was delighted to support Hitler and support the extermination of the Jewish people.
This isn't about geopolitics. If the Democrats have any spine, they will tell Ilhan Omar she needs to read history and spend some time at the Holocaust memorials in Israel.
540
@Mike Tucker, you need to read history too. Ms. Omar's history is equally relevant. And not just her history in migrating to the US, but also her history in winning Minnesota's Fifth District.
More importantly, you should read what she actually said. Nothing that she actually said was anti-Semitic.
44
@DrKick - the point of her coming to congress is to represent her constituents, not to process her own traumatic history. Part of the problem is that politics has become far too individually personal, with identity politics being the style of the day. It's become an Oprah world, with everyone believing that his/her "story" or "truth" needs to be told and understood and processed and heard in the larger political context. Not so.
58
@Mike Tucker
The Dems don't, and Omar won't. And liberal American Jews who overdose on rational thinking, still never learn you can't reason with irrationality. Once again, well-meaning but naive Jewish liberals will have to learn the hard way.
20
Let me save you time from reading this Opinion. 23 Republicans voted against the watered down resolution condemning racism so the Democrats and Omar as not as bad as Republicans. My 9 year uses that excuse when deflecting blame on his brothers. Hey Michelle, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck. If saying "it's all bout the Benjamins" then it's about dual loyalty then its about hypnotizing the world, I think the duck has been found. Omar is anti-semitic. So are some Republicans. Omar should be removed from committees just like Republican Steve King or the Dems are hypocrites.
4
I'm with her. She'll learn to chose her words more carefully. But criticizing Israel and the bully-formerly-known as AIPAC is not being anti-semitic. It's healthy, and much needed. Democrat leadership needs to get with the program.
9
Stating that Jews have dual loyalty is not mild antisemitism. It's raw. It's ugly. It's mean-spirited.
None of us knows what was in the heart and mind of Ilhan Omar, but we know what she said this time and at least twice before. By any reasonable definition, that's antisemitism. It's prejudice and hatred, and there's nothing any of us can legitimately do to dress it up and make it look like something else.
My father (a Jewish physical chemist) worked for the military most of his career and suffered and eventually died from an illness that was related to his work in the Manhattan Project and other government laboratories. His brother served as a Navy ensign in World War II off Italy's coast and saw many die? Were they loyal enough to the U.S.? Are some now going to question their efforts and their colleagues and compatriots then and today? Is my loyalty now under question because I'm Jewish? Are we wanted here any more?
Republicans are even worse with their ongoing displays of white nationalist and neo-Nazi rhetoric. Almost as painful are those Democrats who try to play Omar's words down or talk about "unintentional" antisemitism.
The language Omar used is found in the Protocols of the Elders Zion and throughout classic antisemitic literature. We can see it in 1930s propaganda as Nazis questioned the loyalty of European Jewry. I'm a Democrat who holds many progressive views. What are those like me supposed to do now? Maybe, if I go to sleep now, I can dream this all away.
7
It is been my experience that typically a thing becomes a trope because it contains more than just a grain of truth. Please list for us all of the so-called anti-semitic tropes (and the ones that will be probably be made up in the future) so that we can all avoid walking on these eggshells. Rep. Omar made valid observations and comments about Israel and the Israeli lobby in the US. It was a real stretch to say these comments were anti-semitic. What this fake outrage is about is suppressing legitimate debate on US/Israel policy and Islamophobia.
5
Total nonissue. She was talking about refusing to blindly support Israeli government policy. Anyone who doesn’t agree with Bibi and his apartheid policy is somehow anti Semitic. I am disgusted by the behavior of the Israeli government and US unquestioning support of it.
And for the record, I am Jewish and my first allegiance is to my county-America
8
perhaps if the US Congress had a more even handed position on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and insisted that the parties involved obeyed UN resolutions instead of acting as grubby opportunistic campaign contribution sycophants
2
This is simply piling on. It's time for Jews (I am one) to stop using the Holocaust to justify Israel's brutal treatment of Palestinians. By the way, it's time to retire the old line that about Israel being the only Democracy in the Middle East and whining about the unfairness of all the criticism. If Israel wants to call itself Jewish and Democratic, then stop insulting Jews by acting immorally, and stop insulting Democracy by acting in a non-democratic way toward you sizeable non-Jewish population.
9
The “progressive” left especially seen on college campuses is clearly anti- Semitic.
This division among Democrats has been coming for a long time.
I truly believe there is an inability and unwillingness to concede that some fellow progressives just may be anti-Semitic.
To equate the anti-Semitism present on the Left with what is perceived in the Republican Party is disingenuous, willfully delusional, and sad.
I don’t see Donald Trump bemoaning the fact that his daughter converted to Judaism. Heck, if Trump himself converted and became a rabbi the Left would accuse him of being a self-hating Jew.
I think most Jewish Dems believe they are edgy and cool by becoming twisted like a pretzel by hanging tight with their anti-Semitic allies. Sad.
It is ok to criticize Israel but anti-semitism has no place
4
We have a traitor in the White House and you decide to talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
"Half of me is angry at her. The other half is furious for her."
You have is a great argument! Let me summarize it for you, emotion, emotion and emotion. Here is a counter argument, emotion, emotion, emotion and emotion. Congratulations, you have sunk to Trump's level!
Hard to write anything that, IMO, is better that the commenter posting as @Eliza.
But, a few points, which may not be welcome on this comment board:
Anti-Semitism exists all over the world, and is increasing, and coming out of the shadows.
Despite the 24/7 attention given to Rep. Omar over the past 4 weeks, most anti-semitism in the US has nothing to do with the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts. It's about different religions believing in the God or the Prophet or the different idea about who is actually Allah, and those views do not comport with Judaism. Many people believe Jews are doomed because they do not believe the same things about Jesus Christ that Baptists, Catholics and Protestants and, even if redundant, other Christians believe. And, believe that Jews run the economic world, in the US and globally, to the disadvantage of others; somehow, miraculously, some of them escaped being murdered in other countries and came to the US as unwanted immigrants, from countries that wanted to murder them, but amassed money and influence and now are hated by many because the 2nd and 3rd generations have become successful. And, because they give lots of money to Israel. Yeah, you bet. They give money to Israel. That is the only country in the world in which Jews believe they are safe....and "safe" is not really "safe."
Israel is surrounded by countries that want Israel to be blown up into oblivion. And, Islam is not a Jewish tolerant religion.
3
A friend, who is also Jewish, said to me six months ago, "the true danger is on the Left."
Oh how right he was. Just take a look at the Israel anti-Boycott bill, a necessary bill to protect Israel from unscrupulous bigots trying to financially injure her. And co-sponsored by almost every Republican Senator. On the Democratic side, a mere smattering. Menendez and Boooker are co-sponsors, but besides Booker, not one other presidential candidate is co-sponsoring. Guess what? Unless you're Booker, you lost my vote.
7
AIPAC and some supporters of Israel wish to link any and every criticism of Israel or Israeli government to anti-Semitism. Following this principle, many more people are going to be labeled as anti-Semites and free speech and debate may disappear from the public arena. This will not only harm free speech but also will harm the functioning of democracy. The current tactics of AIPAC, America’s Pro-Israel Lobby, is to stifle debate and quick to label anyone who speaks in opposition to Israeli government or policies as anti-Semite. These tactics of AIPAC will, actually this is already happening on campuses across the nation, link the label of anti-Semitism to the continuing dehumanization of the Palestinians, this will be a double tragedy!
5
Can someone please explain to me how these comments are hurtful or considered anti semetic? is criticism of Israel, or questioning of Israel potentially a landmine field of being labeled as a bigot or hurting some feelings?
2
Wow, a vote on HATE? Was there any floor debate? Glad there are no other pressing issues.
It’d be nice if Omar could ever even utter a single criticism of the pain and injustices Palestinians and Muslims have inflicted on Jews. Or if she spoke out against the massive foreign aide that Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan receive. Pakistan being the country the actually harbored Osama Bin Ladin. If she spoke out against the illiberal views and practices in the Palestinian community and the atrocities Hammas and many other Palestinian groups have perpetrated, or if she ever mentioned Jewish refugees of both Muslim and Christian countries, or if she knew that the grand mufti of Jerusalem sided with the Nazis and helped bar Jewish refugees fleeing murder from entering, or if she knew the slightest history of the conflict and how Israel has offered peace multiple times and how in fact Egypt and Jordan controlled “the occupied territories” until 1967 but never created a state then I’d take her criticisms more seriously. But alas....
6
Holocaust survivors can't share pain? They don't have monopoly on pain.....Clyburn said it was "more personal" with her. It's the truth.
Her words were painful but true, not bad. It's time that the ideas she expressed are debated openly. She did the right thing. I am Jewish, I have worked in Israel. Israel is an apartheid state engaged in ethnic cleansing. Further, the Israeli government has unprecedented access to the highest levels of US Government. That too is wrong. Truth is very Jewish and it is NOT anti-semitic.
6
She’s been held up for unique opprobrium because she's a black, Muslim, women. Three things are have been below the rungs in America. #IstandwithIlhan
6
I hope future history doesn't report that one rabidly anti-semitic Congressperson full of hate -obviously- was able to throw the 2020 election to Trump.
4
This comment pit is very telling. . .for too long the argument is get to know the Jewish story and you'll shut up and stop thinking about Israel. Well many of us have been lucky to hear the other side, the Palestine Story and more broadly the Muslim side of things and shutting up those who were more objective all those years wasn't smart or kind.
4
I think what Ms. Omar has tried to do is to draw a distinction between Zionisnm and Judaism. It should be okay to call out discriminatory Isaraeli treatment of Palestinians without the harsh anti- semite label being applied.
And as for the pro-Israel policies of the Jew-trolling far American right, they love Jews very much...to be in Israel. From their world view, everyone should stay in their corner. Jews in Israel. White, Christian Evangelicas in America. Central Americans in their country of origin. High tech foreign-born talent back in their home turf. Jim Crow reinstated. Their aspiration is the Leave It To Beaver, orderly 1950s stage reinacted for the 21st century. Their goal should terrify us-- it could usher in an age of fascism, of a multi-lateral cold war in which could turn hot or even nuclear-hot in unpredictable ways. A world lacking empathy.
So let Ilhan speak her mind. Her voice isn't one you're used to hearing. Take her message without judgement. And in so doing, expand your world view.
3
Now that Ms. Omar has shared with us her learned and no doubt deeply researched views on Jews and Israel , perhaps she will also consent to share with us her views on topics relating to something she would likely know even better , namely Somalia , her country of origin .
Why is Somalia a failed state ?
How much money has the US spent trying to stabilize Somalia in the last 20 years ? ( Hint - check the internet...) .
Should the US continue to spend money and aid Somalia ?
( Remember the movie Black Hawk Down.... )
Why is there such a cruel tribal warfare in Somalia that has lasted for years ?
Why is Somalia a haven for sea pirates ?
Why is feminine circumcision so prevalent in Somali
society ?
Why is the Al Shabab terror organization so prominent ?
Why have Somali terrorists killed so many innocent civilians in Kenya ?
My gratitude for her views and answers in advance .
5
TOTAL OVERREACTION. SHd was entirely correct in saying that many congres people, influenced by the fear and stimulated by the cash awards of the Israel Lobby group vote for what they want not always what is best for us. They are indeed deeply influenced. Any donor participates regardles of religion. She also used the word "Allah" which really set the fear mongers off. No, she was correct, we are a timid , fearful country and forget our idea of free speech if it isn't what we agree with. Calling Hispanics drug dealers, rapists, criminals is OK? Repubs do ot object as their dear leader bashes Hispanics, blacks, muslims, gays etc, daily? But one word from this young Muslim women causes the country to go crazy?
1
There is a new, or maybe not so new game in town. If you've been oppressed or faced discrimination you're given a pass on antisemitism.
4
Omar is guilty of more than "mild anti-Semitism." Omar is grossly anti-Semitic; it is so much of her being that she cannot even see it. And, as an aside, to her criticism of Israel is always legitimate, but support for Israel is always treasonous and the product of "the Benjamins." I wonder, how does she characterize support for Moslem countries and Moslem people outside the United States. Is that legitimate or treasonous? Is it because of "the Benjamins" (aka "oil money")?
I guess James Clyburn should also be minimizing the American history of slavery and Jim Crow, especially among the young. After all, no living African-American actually experienced slavery, and most young African-Americans never actually experienced Jim Crow. After all, to James Clyburn, seeing numbers tattooed on a parent's forearm is not so bad, and the seething anti-Semitism that exists today (whether among the neo-Nazis, the skinheads or otherwise) doesn't constitute anything that is personal to the Jewish sufferers from it.
7
James Clyburn acknowledged this, he acknowledged existing with the legacy of slavery, just as you are existing with the legacy of the major anti-Semitic atrocities like the Holocaust. Omar suffered herself, thus, it is personal for her. That’s all that was said.
Omar has criticized many Muslim countries.
The Benjamins was supposed to be a double entendre to refer to Netanyahu.
Stop. Seriously, stop, listen, reflect, and come back to respond if you choose to do so.
1
Ilhan Omar is not the extremist here. Trump, Netanyahu and the Dems trying to take her down are the extremists. But none of us are allowed to criticize the Jewish state without being called anti-Semitic. And we have a new article in the NYT every day to remind us that we’re not allowed to criticize the Jewish State. We are free however to criticize all the Muslim states. Let’s be honest. This is because our rabbis tell us that Jews can do nothing wrong. That we are the chosen people, that we are only victims and will only ever be victims.
1
What she said was so unacceptable. What a shame that the democrats have her within her ranks. I have zero tolerance for this kind of ignorant hateful speech.
4
In graphic detail Hitler documented the extermination of Jews in books and film. Rep Omar says she knows what it's like to be discriminated against. I don't get the feeling she's taken the time to sit down and really look at those images. If she had she would commiserate. The answer is always love not vitriol.
2
I’m fairly educated but I never heard the word “trope” until this fiasco. And what an overused word it suddenly is. Regardless of stereotypes, or “tropes” or whatever you want to call them, Omar struck a raw nerve simply for speaking unspoken truths in our society. She never should have apologized for “follow the Benjamins”, a perfect double entendre referring to Benjamin Netanyahu and his “supernatural” hold on the US Congress and President as well as to the $100 million a year spent by AIPAC to influence the US government (not to mention hundreds of millions spent by people like Adelson). It is a rite of passage for freshman US congresspeople to be flown on a luxury week plus long junket to Israel, all expenses paid by AIPAC. The outpouring of “love” never ends after that. The carefully negotiated Iran Deal was dropped simply at the request of the Israelis. This was not for any real Israeli national security concern. This was so Israel could retain its stranglehold on US policy instead of losing attention to a more assimilated Iran. It’s time to break this talisman and call a “spade a spade” (but I’m sure that’s some kind of racist trope.)
1
“Hate your next door neighbor, but don’t forget to say Grace” was sung by Barry McGuire in 1965 in P.F.Slones “The Eve of Destruction.”
That was 1965 folks. Seems very little has really changed since then. In many ways, it’s even worse!
What the Holocaust has really taught us is hate and violence against a person or a race is buried just beneath the skin, just waiting to explode with the smallest tear in the skin.
3
The “Anti Hate Resolution” is the same situation as when someone at work does something wrong. The boss is too weak and ineffectual to address the issue, so he remonstrates everyone. In this situation, Ms. Omar makes anti- Semitic remarks. Instead of publicly chastising her and removing her from committees, the Democrats write a resolution stating hate is wrong. Idiocy.
2
When I was young, naive and insulated, I was deeply touched by the cruelty inflicted upon them by Hitler. I could not believe that so many Jews had ended up in terrible concentration camps only to be exploited and finally burned in ovens. I read books and went to all kinds of Hollywood productions to get a sense of Jewish suffering. From Ann Frank to Exodus, I couldn't have enough. The Jewish people deserved some redemption; something that would help them define themselves: Israel, carved out of Palestine by Great Britain. Then, I became an adult and started asking myself and others questions about the "why" of many events that were taking place in the Middle East: the 1967 War, the build up of Jewish settlements, the walls, the discrimination against the Palestinians, the arrogance of the Jewish government, the "stubbornness" of Palestinians, and my sympathies for the Jews waned. I thought that their efforts to insulate themselves from the Palestinians, and some Muslim societies, was a reaction to the Holocaust. I couldn't believe that a people who had suffered discrimination like they did, could inflict pain on others. Granted, Palestinians did their best to defend what they considered to be theirs, but Israel, with the help of a sympathetic UN, overpowered them. Finally, I wrote both people off as hopeless. I recognize individual Jewish and Palestinian contributions to society, but will not defend their atrocities and excesses. I no longer am young, naive.
You know, dopey as her comments were (and thanks a bunch for the gas, James Clyburne!), nobody got killed over this. Nobody even got punched. There was a lot of yelling, some fairly-intelligent argument, and—as Goldberg noted—some massively stupid yapping at Muslims. Again.
But is it really the worst thing in the world to argue, even too loudly? To see where our representatives stand? For more people to get at least some idea of what the issues are?
Sure, Republicans’ll use this. Sure, Omar handed them some ammo, and she might want to try and figure out that she’s not standin’ around on a corner with a bullhorn anymore. But hey, those guys’ll scream if she walks down the street wearing a headscarf, buys a slice at the corner, and the guy hands her one from the left side of the round steel pan and throws her a polite, “Have a nice day,” in Arabic.
There are too many places in the world where people’d be shooting each other and burning cars over this. Maybe be glad we don’t live there.
Hatred is not pretty by any name!
1
Omar's mission: delegitimize Israel, then portray any Israel supporter as an unpatriotic American.
5
Please give us some ready-made phrases which can be used safely by Muslims or generally non-Jews to criticize Israel without being accused of at least latent anti-Semitism.
I assure you, they do not exist.
2
Aipac and Netanyahu’s israel deserve severe criticism. Moreover the voluntary serfdom of the gop to likud is matched only by the chutzpah of a client state leader to racistly attack president Obama while insisting on more us taxpayer money. That said however how you say things count. I’m black and I know. Representative Omar needs to learn that lesson, or she deserves to be criticized for insensitivity or worse. That said I’m repulsed by Goldberg’s attack on rep clybourn whose remarks were not antisemetic. Indeed given the times’ affection for the racism of the odious Charles Murray I suggest she write some articles looking into that.
Unfortunately, the anti-Muslim attacks on Omar are of a piece with the slurs she has made on Jews--driven by the same hateful impulses. The House passed a resolution that will have no impact on the stupidity that now infects our public life because the resolution is born of the same stupidity, which results in idiotic discussions of whether Omar is worse than King, or vice versa..
1
Moronic to fall into the Republicans trap once again. I dont know whats worse the Republicans clutching their pearls or the democrats punching themselves in the face over Republicans clutching their pearls.
How do you spell hypocrisy? R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N.
The Republican Party is not in a position to teach lesson to Ilhan Omar and the Democrats. And here why:
1) A President whom is playing the anti-Semite card;
2) A few anti-Semite and holocaust deniers whom ran in the Republican primaries and then in the mid-term election;
3)Charlottesville: President Trump calling some of the nazis "find people";
4)Republicans took ten years to condemn Steve King (R) but only one day to condemn Ilhan Omar (D);
5)and many more….
Ms. Omar has been on the receiving end of endless Republican tropes about Muslims and nobody bats an eye. I have no sympathy for any criticism from the GOP. They are just American right wing nut jobs supporting Israeli right wing nut jobs.
But if Ms. Omar wants to survive and prosper in politics, she needs to develop a really thick skin. It is and always has been a nasty business.
Next column please site vertatum her offending words because to this Jew, she said absolutely nothing wrong and what you're accusing her of is an absolutely unsubstantiated distortion. There literally are loyalty oaths being demanded right now in various states around the country. She's right, the Israeli lobby is well moneyed, highly influential, and highly dangerous to American democracy.
1
There's another sacred cow at issue here, besides the death dance between Congress and Likud, and Goldberg addressed it, insufficiently, at the end. It is the maintained myth of the Holocaust's place as the exclusive world humanitarian tragedy, and an exclusively Jewish one at that (though estimates vary, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum puts the number of victims as six million Jews and eleven million non-Jewish).
Goldberg excoriates Rep. Clyburn's temerity to "minimize" the Holocaust. But he was pointing out, inartfully, that there are other holocausts and ethnic cleansings, and more recent ones, to mourn and cope with as well, such as Omar's in Somalia, and - legitimately in my eyes - decrying the PC that there be no other humanitarian tragedies onstage besides the Jewish experience in the Holocaust. "Never again" should not be taken as mandating "Never any competing narrative." That is simply abusive, erasive propaganda (and also conveniently ignores Jewish ethnic cleansing carried out against Palestinians in the Naqba in the 1940s. The "transfer" of Arabs was policy.)
Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. The end.
8
So a relatively powerless Muslim woman who now does what our political leaders have been derelict in their duty, that is, push back against our unconditional support for Israel gets condemn by her own party as anti-Semitic. That must mean that Io an American Jew from a Holocaust family is one slso, or, at least, in the tropes a "self-serving Jew." Israel under the corrupt and cruel Netanyahu autocracy should be condemned , but gets instead our embassy moved to Jerusalem while Palestinians protesting in their ghettos get massacred. And, just who gave moral equivalence to neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville chanting "Jews will not replace us" as having "some nice people"? And, just who incited his followers to a dangerous rage in the run up to the midterm elections resulting in the mass murder of 11 Jewish worshippers in their Pittsburgh synagogue? It's definitely not Rep. Ihlan Omar who may need a scolding by Speaker Nancy Pelosi behind closed doors, but doesn't deserve all the attacks that seem equally racist, as Rep. James Clyburn noted, by attacking a woman who is Muslim.
3
What is the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-semitism: in the worse case it's a hidden form of anti-semitism and the best case it's the mistaken belief that Jews have complete control of their fate in a non-Jewish state.
1
@scythians Who on this earth has complete control over their fate?
I think she deserves the rebuke and that her "comments" are dangerous. Whether said by a representative or not, the tropes and the actual words are hateful and dangerous. She knows this as she has experienced the power of hate speech, as you point out. Wars have started with words. Holocausts started with words.
1
Face reality - Israel has massively abused Palestinians for nearly 100 years. Israel is our biggest problem in the Mid-East.
1
If you going to be a Muslim in American politics you got to avoid these kind of verbal misques. You haven’t been on the American political stage long enough to be trusted by anything close to a majority.
So you know that if every Muslim and Christian and Agnostic/Atheist Palestinian converted to Judaism, the problem would be solved. They would become full citizens of Israel - not second class non-Jewish Israeli citizens (20% of Israelis), not residency status only but not Israeli citizens (30% population- the Muslim and Christian one’s - of Jerusalem - Israel’s capital), not live under illegal Israeli military occupation under Apartheid-like system in West Bank and under PA corruption and mismanagement, not live under illegal Israeli military blockade and under Hamas terrorist government. Some would even get government subsidized housing in land that was taken away from their families. These 6.5 million freshly converted Jews would join their already full citizen 6.5 million Jewish Israeli citizens in a fully Jewish State finally. So Palestinians, just give up Islam, Christianity, Agnosticism, Atheism and embrace Judaism and all your problems will be solved - per the Torah (minus the Messiah part), it will be your land also.
No more worrying about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s microaggresions. Perhaps she could convert to Christianity or Judaism and become a real American also in Trump’s America. Then she can tweet whatever she wants with no consequences.
2
Goldberg should be ashamed of herself for attributing the anti-Semitic tropes she rattles off to Rep. Omar.
She never said these things and Goldberg's claim she believes is nothing more than a fabrication. This is yellow journalism at it's worst - if you believe that OpEds even qualify as "journalism'.
1
It would be very helpful for the NYT to print an up to date article on Somali refuges in Israel. I believe it would place a context on this issue.
I can't be the only one who sees the irony in the fact that when one freshman female representative, of color and that 'scary' religion, makes a vile statement she needs immediate censure, but when one old white man in a white house makes yet another one of his many vile comments he's given a pass.
5
1."mild anti-Semitism" I am really not sure what sort of mindset comes up with a phrase like that.
2 "minimizing the legacy of the Holocaust is never a good idea" The writer actually needed to write that?
1
" I assume Omar has been reckless rather than malicious"
I assume the opposite. If she's so concerned about human rights, as she pretends to be, why haven't I heard her say anything about the subjugation of and brutality against women, non-Muslims, political enemies, journalists that regularly occur in some Muslim countries, like Saudi, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and more. Her outrage is reserved for Israel. The refrain from her defenders is that one can criticize Israel without being antisemitic. True, in general, but the sum total of Omar's selective outrage reeks of a hatred of Jews.
4
This has been a shameful episode, much worse because of the rising tide of antisemitism on the left. Yes, there is a double standard: Islam still demands the annihilation of Israel, and a Muslim needs to be extra careful about what she says, especially in the US Congress.
2
"Jews employ semi-occult powers to control world events; they manipulate hapless gentiles with their money; and Jews in the diaspora are disloyal to the countries in which they live."
Let's see the quotes, Michelle.
I have seen what Omar has said, and none of it was any of these.
In no case did she ever refer to "Jews," but to the rightwing government of Israel.
I'd also like top remind you of Omar's scathing criticisms of Saudi Arabia.
You're no friend of free speech and the truth, Michelle.
2
Wrong! Truth lies in plain sight only for those with the courage to see it.
Using these tropes is a time honored way to begin to dehumanize an entire group of people.
And the worst most destructive form of prescriptive stereotyping is to create fear that a group who is superior to you is trying to take Over. This type of prejudice leads to the holocaust. Or to imprisoning the Japanese. Or now Chinese. Mexicans are here to rape us. Blacks are better athletes so we must imprison them.
You miss what she is doing. Not a micro aggression but a highly manipulative way to create dehumanization.
2
"As the House of Representatives demonstrated Thursday with an awkward vote against bigotry itself, a big tent may contain a party or a circus."
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-House-Democrats-dubious-vote-13671943.php
"Big tent" indeed. How big must the Democratic Party's "big tent" be to accommodate both it's venerable Jewish and pro-Israel influence as well as its new and growing despicably anti-Semitic chorus? Stay tuned...eventually, perhaps Nancy Pelosi's "circus" will explain, and tell us all about the Democratic Party's latest version of "inclusiveness".
I would especially like to hear from Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with regard to Ilhan Omar's stubbornly repeated anti-Semitic comments.
Chuck...anything at all?
@Raconteur The label "venerable" is indicative of the problem here.
"inadvertent slights that are painful because they echo whole histories of trauma."
Slights like calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas which is painful for Native Americans.
Slights like black face which is painful for Black Americans.
Slights like calling Hispanics murders and rapists hurts Hispanics.
Also slights like Anti-Semitism hurts Jews. They however, are not the only group to have histories of painful trauma.
2
"Among the most basic anti-Semitic tropes (stereotypes-mine) are these: Jews employ semi-occult powers to control world events; ................ Omar, in the course of making perfectly valid criticisms of Israel and its most powerful American lobby, has invoked each of these tropes (stereotypes- mine." Poppycock. Wrong and false analogy.
Criticizing or commenting on any government does not automatically invoke stereotypes or "tropes" about its people or citizens. Being Polish-American, under Goldberg's false analogy, if I criticize the current far-right Polish government, then I am "trop-ing" or stereotyping the Polish people, including myself, as exceptionally dumb, easily mislead, unrefined, unclean, lazy, worse than the village idiot, best cleaners and housekeepers, etc. Hogwash. Ilhan Omar is being singled out and demonized for a big nothing-burger while Nero is fiddling and Rome is on fire.
1
Given how prevalent the influence of money is on politics it's a real stretch to say that the fact that she equated some of the (to my mind) inexplicably blind support for Israel despite it's poor actions vis a vis the Palestinians to say that her tweet is anti-semitism.
I wonder how much of the hullabaloo about nothing here is driven by anti-Muslim sentiment and a bias in our culture that just because you're Muslim means you hate Jews.
This whole thing is farce and the Democrats should know better but hey, you gotta do the performative outrage dance if you want that AIPAC money, I guess.
So if I get this right, because anti-Semites talk about Jews' ability to manipulate gentiles with their money, it is okay to talk about the power of money and lobbying in every context in American politics except when it comes to Israel or Jews?
Fair! Sensible even. In the kind of yellow is red and green is black world Israel imposes on Palestinians.
And in what way exactly do Representative Omar's comments "minimize the legacy of the Holocaust?" Even in the absence of comments daring to comment on the "legacy of the Holocaust," one could say, since it was 75 years ago, haven't there been other enormous losses of life in so many areas that deserve our at least equal attention: Congo, Sudan, Iraq/Syria, Cambodia, Indonesia fighting communism, China's Cultural Revolution fighting itself, the bloody trail of Stalin, Afghanistan, those famines that used to hit Africa with regularity - there really is no end. Are we creating countries for the Yazdis by the way?
2
Criticism of AIPAC and Israel are entirely legit. But anti-Zionism is a ‘’microaggression’? No, it’s denial of the Jews a right to their homeland. And stating that Israel is not a democracy and is no different from Iran is a ‘microagression’? No, it’s nothing less than geopolitical ignorance. What happened to critical thinking? Stop being an apologist for ignorance and anti-Semites, Ms Goldberg.
2
It's anti-Semites, not Jews, who come into the public square with hatred in their hearts and threaten civil society. Rather than anti-Semites, they should simply be labeled anti humans. They'd finally receive the closer attention they deserve.
"...there’s still only one political party in America that is a safe place for hate."
Disagree. I think there is far more hatred coming from the left than the right. The hatred has been absorbed into the media narrative and we've become numb to it. It's the hatred that comes from resentment. You see it in all of the stories about "whiteness" and "white supremacy" which are commonplace. You see it in HRC calling half the country "deplorable." Now anti-Semitism is on the rise on the left. It was a racism of resentment against Jews that led to the Holocaust in Germany. Many of the biggest anti-Semites like Richard Wagner or even Karl Marx were from the extreme left. I think it's time for some serious introspection and self-analysis in the Democrat party. Open your eyes before it's too late.
It is standard Islamic doctrine that all religions tracing themselves back to Abraham of Ur are "of the book", and therefore first cousins of Islam.
1
I would like to ask Omar, Tlaib and like minded people if your support for a Palestinian state means you are also guilty of dual loyalty. Or is it only a question for Jews?
1
Some may defend Omar's comments as being anti-zionist but not antisemitic. I think that's a very fine distinction which can be easily blurred, leading to an inference that Jews rule the world through their money. That's the classic antisemitic trope used most noticeably by Hitler but also by many others.
1
It is pervasive among the far left to be hyper-critical of Israel. Even many Jews on the far left, like the author, have developed what has almost become a contempt toward Israel. Although this article is ostensibly about Omar's repeated expression of her intense anti-Jewish bigotry, the author cannot resist repeatedly expressing that she agrees with Omar's intense opposition to all things Israel.
I wrote above that Goldberg's article was "ostensibly" about Omar's anti-Jewish statements because that clearly was not the author's purpose for the article. As became clear mid-way through, the real purpose of the article was to deflect attention from Omar's anti-Jewish bigotry from the mainstream Democrats refusal to condemn Omar. Goldberg resorts to the tired old behavior of accusing Republicans of being worse than the current Democrat offender at whatever was the Democrat's offense.
Such deflection attempts to quell public anger against a reprehensible Democrat by turning that anger against Republicans. If successful, it would be a partisan triumph. If partisan victory at all costs is one's priority, then her attempt to deflect is to be praised. But if her antagonism toward bigotry were even half as strong as her antagonism toward Israel and Republicans, then she would never have written this article since it essentially justifies accepting the anti-Jewish bigotry of Democrats because Republicans, too, are guilty thereof.
1
Let’s now apply to the newly minted Omar standard to Jerry Nadler and Michelle Goldberg. Nadler and Goldberg accuse Republican Jim Jordan of anti-Semitism because he spelled Steyer with a dollar sign.
Tom Steyer is a private citizen billionaire, Steyer publicly pledged 100’s million dollars to bring down Trump by funding Democratic candidates. That is Mr. Steyer right. Steyer identifies as Episcopalian and is not Jewish under Jewish law, his mother being a non-Jew (Wikipedia). Jordan did not imply any dark conspiracy or amorphous unnamed group. He called out Nadler and linked him to Steyer by name and his money with a cute Twitter trick, $ for S. The sort of thing these pages routinely do to Republicans with the Koch brothers (Episcopalians). There was absolutely nothing anti-semitic in Jordon’s twitter post. Nadler weaponized a false claim of anti-semitism in his reply and Goldberg doubled down on it here.
I have no use for Congresswomen Omar, I disagree with her on many topics. However, the sort of weaponization of anti-semitism that Nadler and Goldberg engage in created an opening for Omar. Omar won the day and a Democratically controlled House could not even muster a vote on a toothless feel good resolution condemning anti-semitism. Shameful.
2
@mkm Good call-out on Nadler. His PC knee-jerk hyper-hysteria doesn't help fight anti-semitism.
But, actually, the inability to muster a vote on the initial rote draft is a good thing - it's the beginning of a long overdue crack in the willfully blind lockstep Congress has been in with AIPAC and Likud and toward a vitally necessary rational and balanced policy in the Middle East. The fact that much of the Republican wacko fringe (plus Lee Zeldin) voted against the final version is strong evidence of that.
1
Microaggression would be better served as a synonym for indecision, as opposed to one for wrong doing.
You get punched in the mouth, or you don't. There is no microaggression.
That Omar is no more racist than a bunch of moronic Republicans, including our esteemed president, is the very definition of condemning with faint praise. Pelosi is correct in trying to let 100 flowers bloom, but not if one or more are poisonous. A party that tolerates hatred against me and my brothers and sisters can no longer be my party. Democratic Party: it's your move.
2
If you take Omar's merely using the word "allegiance" as an anti-Semitic trope (I don't), then WHAT EXACTLY should she have said instead? Is there ANY OTHER WAY for her to make the point she's making about the undue influence of AIPAC on US foreign policy?
First, she called out the influence of AIPAC money directly. You called it anti-Semitic.
So she avoided referring to money, and instead said AIPAC was pressuring politicians to declare unquestioning allegiance to Israel. You called it anti-Semitic again.
Model the words you want her to say instead! How the heck is she supposed to actually make her point without people screaming "anti-Semitism!" in her face!?
My suspicion: You CAN'T model another way. You're just uncomfortable with the very valid point she's trying to make because you fear it might be true.
3
Great column. I think of Jimmy Carter, who initially in public rallies pronounced Italian Eye-talian. It was embarrassing and stupid--and I think reflected a racist tenor of the land in which we grew up (we are the same age). And Carter just didn't know. I think on one level Omar just doesn't know...and on the other level she is furious. She better learn quickly. You cannot conflate the policies of Netanyahu and his despicable government and their powerful lobbyists with any group of Americans. Our country needs better.
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's words (due to her ignorance of history and culture and society in America and Europe) were MACROaggressions, not microagressions, Ms. Goldberg. Anti-Semitism is afoot again in Europe and America and a Gen Y congresswoman (first Somali-born hijab-clad Rep. in U.S. history) is leading the way here because she never learned the history of Europe and America in World War II. Can Ms. Omar be held responsible for her ignorance of world and American history? Yes. Yesterday the Congress passed their Resolution condemning anti-Semitism, bigotry and anti-Muslim discrimination against minorites. Bland, ignorable and offensive.
2
@Nan Socolow So extending anti-discrimination exhortations to non-Jews is "bland, ignorable and offensive." Okay. Thank you for sharing. Your sentiments are illuminating. And unfortunately confirming of a PC that is not only offensive to me but in the practical sense corrosive to your own cause.
Would Michelle and other Democrats be falling all over themselves to excuse CLEARLY non contrite Omar if she were a white male or even a white female? Obviously not. This is just another reveal of today's Democratic Party's developing ONLY Black Lives Matter agenda.
3
Oh Michelle,
Deep down you know you're 100% furious with her.
As your fellow columnist Stephens (not my favorite by any means) says, Omar knows exactly what she's doing, and she's going to keep doing it.
She's not naive, insulated, or unaware of what it means to employ anti-Semitic stereotypes in the service of eventually driving the Jews (Israel) into the sea.
She is avidly pro-Palestinian, and she has adopted the oh-so-clever Zionism-is-racism trope. That nugget is used to say, "Oh, I'm not anti-Semitic, no, I'm just anti-Zionist."`
Which is exactly the same as saying I'm anti-Semitic -- because without a homeland, without a guaranteed right to exist in security in the world -- well, maybe there'll be millions more Jews murdered? The Diaspora didn't exactly provide tolerance, let alone safety.
Omar didn't open any kind of much needed discussion about Israel, or the Arabs stuck in Gaza, or AIPAC.
She opened a centuries old theological can of worms, where Christianity and Islam have both worked to demonize Jews. She knows it works.
I tried to make excuses, I tried to determine if (most) of the reaction was because she is a woman, and a Muslim who wears a hijab.
Certainly that plays some part in the reaction to her.
But it's not the whole story. I'd like her off the Foreign Affairs committee.
This isn't "identity politics" the Dems are dealing with.
This is institutionalized hatred of Jews complete with tropes.
Sad she couldn't use her election to promote tolerance, not hate.
3
In the 1980 and early 90s, Americans (not the US government) stood up to protest apartheid and discrimination in South Africa through a campaign today summarized as Boycotts, Disinvestment, Sanction. Nobody accused them of being anti-white or ant-Christian and the BDS of South Africa played a major role in the release of Mandela and the negotiated settlement that followed.
Fast forward and American activists are using the same playbook against Israel in the hopes of forcing similar change. The difficulty is that AIPAC and the media have so conflated anti-semitism with opposition to Israeli apartheid policies that it takes a lawyer to parse the exact words that can be used by certain people only to criticize Israeli policies. Goldberg makes the same mistake of equivalence, comparing Omar's words to the incredibly vicious reaction from Republicans undeniably orchestrated by AIPAC. Omar is not a lawyer but she does have courage in spades. Just like most activists she has no idea what she is up against.
2
Stating that Jews have dual loyalty is not mild antisemitism. It's raw. It's ugly. It's mean-spirited.
None of us knows what was in the heart and mind of Ilhan Omar, but we know what she said this time and at least twice before. By any reasonable definition, that's antisemitism. It's prejudice and hatred, and there's nothing any of us can legitimately do to dress it up and make it look like something else.
My father (a Jewish physical chemist) worked for the military most of his career and suffered and eventually died from an illness that was related to his work in the Manhattan Project and other government laboratories. His brother served as a Navy ensign in World War II off the coast of Italy and saw many die? Were they loyal enough to the U.S.? Are some now going to question their efforts and their colleagues and compatriots then and today? Is my loyalty now under question because I'm Jewish? Are we wanted here any more?
Republicans are even worse with their ongoing displays of white nationalist and neo-Nazi rhetoric. Almost as painful are those Democrats who try to play Omar's words down or talk about "unintentional" antisemitism.
The language Omar used is found in the Protocols of Zion and throughout classic antisemitic literature. We can see it in 1930s propaganda as Nazis questioned the loyalty of European Jewry. I'm a Democrat who holds many progressive views. What are those like me supposed to do now? Maybe, if I go to sleep now, I can dream this all away.
3
The repeated accusation that Rep. Omar as "invoked anti-Semitic tropes" perfectly exemplifies the mealy-mouthed nature of her critics. They won't go so far as to accuse her of willfully dog whistling vile anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, because it's abundantly clear that she is doing no such thing. Michelle Goldberg takes this equivocation to the extreme by invoking the notion of "microagressions", a concept popularized by online social justice communities. Coopting this sort of leftwing language allows Ms. Goldberg to participate in the racist smear campaign against Rep. Omar, while maintaining an air of liberal sensibility.
We've allowed this farcical, racist fake scandal to completely undermine what should have been a landmark and unifying rollout of HR1.
1
The word police are out there and ready to pounce at a moments notice. Her statements strike me as being the result of ignorance and inexperience. She doesn't understand the holocaust, the 1924 US prohibition against Jews, Eastern and Southern Europeans from emigrating to the US. Israel has to be created because there was no place for the Jews to go. We were being hunted, murdered and expelled, and just about everywhere.
Yes there are powerful Jewish lobbying groups. There are powerful evangelical lobbying groups. There are powerful lobbying groups for just about every special interest.
Omar is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians, whom she feels are oppressed by Jews. So is she professing her allegiance to another country, or people? Of course she is. Is she a member of the global Islamic community or a US patriot? She is both. The same goes for Jews. She needs to learn that.
Israel is having some real problems that most American Jews are very upset about. Trump has just made things worse by encouraging extremist behavior. Most of us stand against that behavior.
The Democrats created this situation by grossly overreacting to her lack of experience in the public spotlight. Anytime anyone takes a stand on any issue, they get pounced upon. Their words get twisted up and used against them.
Success breeds jealousy and jealousy breeds contempt and contempt breeds hate. That's humanity's consistent problem and it drives much of this.
4
This hubbub about nothing reminds me of all the furor about AOC not really being as smart as she is until she kept whacking the mole every time it popped up.
I think bigotry about this Muslim woman has more to do with this hubbub than almost anything else. No one wants to believe she is as smart and sophisticated as she is.
There is also the GOP taking an opportunity to put the taste of blood into the mouths of this base of theirs.
read a non propaganda view of what is taking place here. https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/03/05/paul-waldman-dishonest/
I am only going to respond to the first portion because I think it is important.
"Among the most basic anti-Semitic tropes are these:
Jews employ semi-occult powers to control world events;"
She is not saying this. She is saying the Jewish money is influencing those elected in order to keep the Status Quo of giving Israel aid and siding by them even though the U.N. has said they carried out human rights abuses and violated International Law.
"they manipulate hapless gentiles with their money;"
She's not even saying just 'gentiles'. Shes saying people in Congress, period. Organizations like AIPAC lobby for policies just like ALEC. She was not just calling out Jewish organizations, she consistently calls out others as well but everyone seems to gloss over that fact. This is about the money in politics and Citizen's United.
"and Jews in the diaspora are disloyal to the countries in which they live. "
Having dual loyalty in that sense is referring to the fact that endorsing these international law violations as well as giving billions of aid to a regime that is oppressing Palestinians is not in our best interest as Americans. Many nations around the world are appalled by many acts of Israel within the past few decades. We should be an impartial country to help foster peace and solutions instead of standing by. If this were Colombia, Ukraine, or Germany doing these acts, we would have sanctions them and tried to help create a general peace between people.
Well, there is nothing quite like a black Muslim woman to expose all the haters. She hits so many of the tripwires - racism, misogyny, religious bigotry. Yes, she should be more careful with her words. But for Republicans to cry foul is really rich. I applaud the Black Congressional Caucus for pointing out that there was never a resolution for condemning treatment of blacks until now. Shame on those who wanted it to be solely about Jews.
It is interesting that those who condemn Ms. Omar for questioning the loyalty of Jewish Americans seem to question her "Americanness" without realizing their double standard. Fortunately, Ms. Goldberg is not among them.
2
Here is a quote from the NYT (3/3/15, "Cross Section of Democrats to Snub Netanyahu's Speech to Congress"):
"The ... rebellion ... is all the more striking because allegiance to Israel has long had nearly unanimous support in Congress"
I don't recall anyone complaining about the NYT's anti-semitism after this article. "Allegiance to Israel" is simply an accurate description of a political reality in which lawmakers are expected to support every Israeli action or request. Criticizing this allegiance is hardly anti-Jewish: the "supporters" of Israel are by no means all Jewish, and there are many many Jews who are critical of this unwavering support.
I commend to everyone Glenn Greenwald's excellent article on this subject: https://theintercept.com/2019/03/05/the-house-democrats-rebuke-of-rep-ilhan-omar-is-a-fraud-for-many-reasons-including-its-wild-distortion-of-her-comments/
1
Thank you Michelle!!
1
Yes, the reaction was worse. And that is intentional. It is a political tactic among Likudnik extremists, Jews and Christianists alike, to jump on the slightest opportunity to fling the hysterical anti-Semitism card. And it plays well - just look at all the sheep politicians running for cover this week.
But the worrying thing is that it also corrodes the credibility of legitimate claims for a Jewish homeland in the long run. Guilt by association is a difficult thing to counter.
The American Experiment seems to be dying by complacency and corruption - both elements of greed in one form or another. The Israeli Experiment by paranoia and misplaced smug superiority, both of which drive reactionary arrogance and callousness.
Oy, the world...
Don’t ever talk to us again about Donald Trump and “dog whistles” after this whitewashing of Omar’s sly insinuations about Jewish Americans and divided loyalties. Those weren’t microaggressions, those weren’t accidental offenses, they were deliberate libels of the worst kind.
2
"She’s been held up for unique opprobrium because, breaking with America’s foreign policy consensus, she empathizes with Palestinians more than Israelis."
No. She's facing intense criticism because we expect better from Democrats. It really isn't hard to criticize Israel without dragging these centuries-old slurs into it.
3
Whatever happened to the liberal concept of “dog whistles” that they employ so earnestly to comments from those on the right? Isn’t this a case of an anti-Semitic dog whistle? Of course it is.
We support a lot of countries with foreign aid and military assistance (Egypt) why is Israel so finely scrutinized? Why no BDS for Egypt and others?
1
So the Democrats are once again forming a circular firing squad. Israel does not get a free pass from criticism just because it has a majority Jewish faith, but please get back to the real business before the nation and skip the identity politics.
1
The Democrat mini-trolls seem to think that they can compete on the world stage with the savant troll in chief, Mr. Trump. They can't. The American president has redefined the role (for the worst) and anyone attempting to fight him at his own game is going to get smoked, as we have already seen. Congress needs fewer twitter trolls. Wake up, Dems.
Ms. Golderber, while criticism, even fierce criticism, of Israel is not anti-semitic, anti-Zionism most definitely is. To argue that the Jews don't have a right to a homeland of -some- borders located -somehwere- in their ancestral homeland is arguably more hateful than saying they tend to have a personality characteristic. Indeed, if anti-Zionism isn't racist, why not bring back to the UN and elsewhere the old "Zionism is racism" slur?
1
The last trite line of this piece sums it up perfectly, and highlights the delusion we benevolent liberal democrats live in. Systemic oppression, microaggressions, and supremacist ideology is so invisible to us believers that we cannot see that there is, in fact, no division of the violence. There is no a single political party of hate; to believe there is, is the proof. Some politicians have learned the value of hiding and coding their language and actions, in order to win the vote and pass as the "good ones." Please let's not be self-righteous; NYC is the most segregated school district in America. Also, why are their only two parties to choose from? This is America; very convenience store offers 7 kinds of pulp-free oj.
Somebody has to each Representative Omar that being in Congress means being in power, and power operates poorly when exercised through Twitter and other social media. It is exercised by quiet persuasion. Her vote now counts. Make it work, then.
But not, to dispute Michelle Goldberg, who has made this error more than once, through anti-Zionism, but through pressures on the Israeli--and the Palestinian--governments, quiet pressures. Anti-Zionism is something else, by definition, anti-Semitism, because anti-Zionism denies the Jewish People (and it is a people, just as are the Palestinians) a right to self-determination in a state of its own (with, by the way 22% Palestinians, 90% of whom grouse, but also insist on keeping their Israeli passports come what may; the Palestinian State will harbor not one single Jew). To deny the Jews self-government is one of the most classic anti-Semitic tropes. It is enough to study a little Christian theology and legal writings over the centuries to see this black and white. Hence, anti-Zionism--as opposed to anti-Bibi-ism--is indeed anti-Semitic, and there is no escaping it.
1
There may be a double standard here but maybe less of one if we consider context. Jordan may be an antisemitic bigot. But there is little reason to believe he cares to take any meaningful action that would harm Jews anywhere. Omar, on the other hand, seems very comfortable among people and ideas that are very hostile to Jews.
2
Here’s my message to Jews: “Grow some skin, thicken up.” There’s a long history of your being abused, persecuted, discrimated against, murdered. It’s not over. It’ll never be un-written. It’ll never be OK. But not every misspoken, trope-ridden criticism is, or should be, a big deal. The recent negative over-reaction—of politicians!—to this young woman’s choice of (politically incorrect) words has actually fed the widespread perception that Israel has disproportionate clout l, and is not at all averse to using it in pernicious, propagandistic ways. I say “politicians!” because it is common knowledge that they’re remarkably hypocritical, that their statements of protest are usually calculated to be self-serving, nothing more. In other words, it’s almost always important to take their ballyhoo with a half a cup of sodium.
1
I'm Jewish and the child of Holocaust survivors; our family was entirely wiped out - not that this should make a difference. Your column is deceptive and would be more appropriate for a UK Labor party weekly.
1. Tom Steyer's not Jewish. Anyone who knows politics or can find Wikipedia knows that. His name may sound Jewish but that doesn't inoculate him from criticism. Nadler just seized on his name and trivialized real anti Semitism.
2. The democratic resolution is an anodyne sham and avoids any mention of what started this controversy. You willfully ignore that and ignore the reason Republicans voted against it. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/why-some-republicans-voted-against-the-anti-hate-resolution/
Lee Zelidn, a Jewish republican also voted against it. Had I been in office, I would've voted against it. In truth, the Democrats refused to take action against anti Semitism and your attempt to condemn principled republican opposition is transparently disingenuous.
3. Anti Zionism is anti Semitism. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-antisemitism/frances-macron-says-anti-zionism-is-a-form-of-anti-semitism-idUSKCN1QA1GL
When you're to the left of the Europeans on this, you need to look in the mirror.
4. Frankly, neither party is safe for Jews. I'm an independent but lean left socially. But the left is far more hateful and dangerous because it's unrestrained. The future of the Democrats is on display in Corbyn's Labor Party for anyone who wants to see it.
3
The AIPACs of the world have made certain that there's no clear bright line between antisemitism and valid criticism of Israel's policies. The notion that any criticism of Israel is antisemitic has lurked in the halls of Congress for far too long. The antisemitic card has been played so often it has lost its value when valid antisemitism rears its ugly head. I'm no fan of other countries in the region, but that doesn't mean I goosestep with Bibi.
1
Most alarming fact from this column is that twenty-three Republicans rejected a blandly inoffensive “resolution condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim discrimination, and ‘bigotry against minorities.’”
What are they so afraid of?
1
This is a very good column. So was Thomas Friedman's piece a few days ago. It is no criticism to say that these two columns show a good deal of common sense, something that seems to be lacking in the case of Rep. Omar. Does she have any staff who might advise her? Has she no progressive Jewish constituents with experience in criticizing terrible Israeli government policies without using antisemitic language? It is not that hard for me or J Street to do this. If she can express herself in this way and chooses not to, then I can only conclude that she aims to provoke. To what end?
Another Israel apologist who has to obscure the issue of legitimate complaints about Israel (almost all complaints about Israel are legitimate by the way). Let's focus on what Israel does to Palestinians and to US foreign policy: How about its role in US invasion of Iraq, warmongering against Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, US aid to Israel etc. These are the issues we as Americans should be discussing as they affect our country tremendously.
One question: Why is it that the President of the United States and many other white males can say and do racist sexist things and not be publicly punished in the way that Omar is? I think we all know the answer. I do not believe that what she said was antisemitic, but even if it was, it was far less so than the antisemitic sayings of the current sitting President. Yes, Dems are eating their own and there are more important issues to work on. Let's move on and let Omar do her job.
It's obvious that Goldberg is torn on this issue as probably all American liberal/progressive Jews are? But it is very simple for me.
Omar, Tlaib, and AOC and all the rest of the liberal/progressive warriors for equal rights, woman's rights, free speech, the rule of democratic law and justice, (not Sharia) and science and modernization who criticize Israel harshly and paint them as the bad guy versus the so called Palestinians, but never mention Hamas, and the PLA as the terrorist leaders of the Palestinians, are anti-Semitic. And they are a political threat to all the aforementioned Democratic Party political policies and enable Trump and the Republicans.
I just finished Phyllis Goldstein's book, "A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism. I am a non-Jew but I both empathize and sympathize with the plight of the Jewish people and the horrible way they have been treated over centuries.
The one thing I came away with was that words, like elections, do matter. The Holocaust didn't begin with rounding up Jews and herding them into the Warsaw Ghetto, or lining them up in front of ditches to be shot, or coaxing them into gas chambers telling them they were going to take a shower.
It began with words, and words are powerful. Rep. Omar has been slow to recognize that and she has continually used tropes that have offended both Jews and non-Jews alike.
We can argue about who is right and who is wrong in Israel, and she is free to sympathize with the Palestinians all she wants to, although how she justifies the brutality of Hamas perpetrated on the Israelis is beyond my understanding.
So, yes, her words were bad and she has been slow to recognize that. She is free to criticize Israel of course, and there is plenty to criticize with the corrupt leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu on full display.
But for this non-Jew, I see Israel as a light in the desert, surrounded by enemies intent on pushing her into the sea, defending herself and effectively fighting back in a way the world has not witnessed, and the world just cannot get used to it. Jews are no longer willing to march meekly into the showers.
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And the Democratic Party continues to play the Wile E Coyote in every single one of these ridiculous cartoons... each one a silly bad faith GOP trap, most likely abetted if not perpetrated by bots and algorithms paid for by god knows who for god knows what purpose — beyond the obvious, that is: foster hatred and division, exploit the same, then skedaddle and bank the loot somewhere safe and tax free.
I was perplexed by Bibi N coming into the halls of Congress at the behest of Republicans to criticize the Democratic President (even though Obama went on to approve more money for Israeli aid ever).
Bibi himself has used tropes: When he argued that the Holocaust was the brainchild of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini in October of 2105. And he was criticized, but not excoriated.
http://time.com/4084301/hitler-grand-mufi-1941/
Everyone needs to be very careful when speaking about this issue as well as many other sensitive ones. That's why we have diplomats. Elected or not, every person with a twitter feed should not feel empowered or the need to bloviate. And our politicians (both sides and foreign as well ) should quit using these wedge issues for short term political gain.
Ms Goldberg needs to learn some history.
Historically through times, Jewish families or businesses run by Jewish people have played an important role in Finance and Media. Lets start with House of Rothschild, especially Lord Rothschild. How about Anglo American (gold mining) started by Ernest Oppenheimer. Or Carl Laemmle who started Universal Pictures, Lewis B. Mayer and Marcus Loew who started MGM (movies), Jack Warner who with his brothers started Warner Brothers. Or Harvey Weinstein, David Spielberg and David Selznick - Movie producers. Mel Karmazin who founded Infinity Broadcasting. Ralph Roberts who founded Comcast. Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs both had Jewish founders. Sheldon Adelson - Las Vegas Sands.
Lord Rothschild is perhaps the most important historically due to his role in the Balfour Declaration. Adelson is very influential today in the Trump Administration.
To be balanced JP Morgan was Episcopalian. Mellon was Presbyterian. So was Andrew Carnegie. Hank Paulson - former US Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs executive was raised as a Christian Scientist. Wiki does not list a religion for Francis Ford Coppola or John Ford (movies).
Sources: wiki
I am a Jew, as far as I know 100 percent. My ancestors were victims and survivors of the inquisition, countless pogroms and the Shoah. They were money changers, money lenders, doctors, lawyers, electrical engineers, rabbis, philosophers, small manufacturers and merchants. I have a Harvard doctorate in applied mathematics and economics. I spent a few decades at Goldman Sachs running quantitative businesses before I retired.
Even Foe one second I did not take any offense from İlhan Omar’s comments. Why should I?
The so called “tropes” are deemed as such because we want to deem them as such. When people mention that most successful violinists have been and continue to be Jews (from Odessa, is the joke), or that there are more Nobel Prizes in the Sciences awarded to Jews then any other ethnic group (per capita an unbelievably distorted distribution), we don’t turn back and call them antisemites as far as I know. And of course we should not.
Now, Omar didn’t even do any of this. I criticize the State if Israel, the influence of AIPAC in perpetuating the misery Isreal imposes on Palestinian people, and, the fact that money’s influence in politics is a dangerous tool against democracy at all times. I never was called an antisemite. Should have I been? Should have they censored me and pass resolutions against me in the univerity senate, or management committees?
I don’t think so.
3
I happen to agree with Congressman Vargas that it is unacceptable to question the United States of America's support for Israel. Granted, that slightly rewords Vargas's tweet, but it does not change his meaning. Nevertheless, I do not think support for the U.S.-Israel relationship makes it unacceptable to question the actions of Israel's government. Israel is holding elections on April 9, and its prime minister is under investigation for corruption. For all we know, the country will have a different government a month from now. I have always considered Benjamin Netanyahu to be part of the problem, not part of the solution. He's adopted the tactic of the late Yashir Arafat of keeping himself in office by provoking violence any time peace negotiations move forward. Arafat knew that the first thing the Palestinians would do if they had peace would be to get rid of him and his al Fatah faction, and Netanyahu knows Israeli voters would do the same to him and the Likud Party. Hamas would suffer the same fate in Gaza, and Hezbollah would just become a thorn in everyone's side. So let's be clear, and inform Congresswoman Omar as well, that everyone calling the shots on both sides of the conflict right now see it in their personal interest to keep the killing going.
1
Some readers respond to Goldberg's balanced analysis with the question "But aren't [those other people] worse?". Yes, they are really, really catastrophically destructive. That's why the stakes are so high: infighting -- even for good reason -- among those who value social justice will only help these other forces succeed. So everybody (yes, you): stop talking, now sit down, and start listening... then, get back to work.
Thanks Michelle well said!
I would add that the process of co-creating this document seemed to be a very important teachable moment for many.
Congresswoman Karen Bass, head of the Black Caucus in an interview on NPR yesterday said that many people really learned about the historical hatred and why this issue is so important and so heated.
If our country is to heal it's deep divisions and historical wounds having an inclusive document that condemns all hatred might just be the best place to start.
1
I am not Jewish, not American and do not live in the U.S.
And therefore I may look at this with different eyes.
The world’s Jewish population is roughly 15 million while there are well above 1 billion Muslims (and many muslim countries). The only jewish country, Israel, is surrounded by countries, that at best don’t like it and at worst want to destroy it. I have full understanding that Israel has to take different measures to ensure the safety of it’s population than most other countries and it should be able to rely on its friends, e.g. western democracies even at times when it is governed by questionable politicians which will be gone sooner or later. The 2 states seem to be the best solution; alternatively, the many muslim countries may offer their brothers and sisters who do not want to live in Israel to relocate.
As for Omar, she should not receive training as suggested by other commentators. She should say what she thinks, not hide it, and hopefully she will not be reelected.
7
Representative Omar is a young, dainty woman who has endured—and survived—terrible years in Somalia and a refugee camp. Many of us cringe at the idea of hurting such a person’s feelings. So it is not fun to critique her.
She undoubtedly wants to serve her nation. She can bring more people to understandings of some of the struggles faced by refugees on the African continent—a problem that will only grow as climate change worsens.
I hope she learns to not drive unnecessary wedges into our nation, among people who could be her supporters as she tries to repair some of the suffering in the world.
Trust is earned, not a right, for every person. She needs to built trust and show wisdom as she fights for causes she values.
3
This incident illustrates a reality that both extremes (right and left) are uncomfortable with: people are complicated. You see this all the time in 4th wave feminism - the complete inability to admit women are capable of wrongdoing. They are ALWAYS the victim. A similar trope is arriving around Muslims, because they are (somewhat correctly) viewed as marginalized in today's society. But not all Muslims are saints - just because someone holds a 'victim' status (by the standards of contemporary society), this does not immediately make them immune to missteps (sometimes very serious missteps). Somehow in the midst of all these identity discussions we've lost the all-important reality of the individual - the individual that makes mistakes, no matter what "identity" they have.
3
Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
-- George Washington, Farewell Address of 1796
2
What Ms. Omar said may be true but the political reality is she was the wrong person to say it.
2
@Kirby Benson
The political reality is that no one is allowed to say what she said. Which proves her point.
2
It would be awful if this issue divided the movement for a democratic president and senate in 2020. I think the resolution was brilliant because it was non-divisive and stated democratic values. That's a good thing. The fight for a green economy, economic justice, immigration reform have to take center stage. I don't think criticism of Israeli policy and Netanyahu are helpful right now, but if it is necessary, it should be done with care so it can't be conflated with antisemitism. Don't let the tea party set the terms.
3
Q: The US props up a theocracy (Zionist Israel) in order to prop up a monarchy (Saudi), in order to prop up our own addiction (fossil fuel). No wonder there is such objection to climate change (as "fake news"). If we paid the real price of fossil fuel , then it would not be cost effective to stay addicted to dirty oil.
A: New green deal.
4
I encourage those stirred by this debate to actually listen and watch (as opposed to reading) the kind of emphasis with which Ilhan delivered her most recent urging of Americans to question the patriotism and loyalties of those American Jews who lobby for policies they support.
And to easily dispose of her rationalizationthat she is being unjustly targeted, because he rallying cry was no different than objecting to the NRA's and Pharmaceutical companies' political influence, let's start by noting the influence of the NRA on gun policy can be directly blamed for the unjustifiable killing, if not gruesomely crippling, innocent Americans, frequently in horrific mass murders on American soil. And secondly, Big Pharma has directly, and through grossly inflated pricing and other unconscioncable practices, directly robbed millions of Americans of their financial and physical health.
Finally, as a member of the House's Foreign Relations committee, Ms. Omar should understand that American foreign policy towards Israel is bigger and more complex than using our influence to defend Arabs who consider themselves "Palestinians."
Perhaps, by the Congresswoman's reasoning, we could argue that Congresswoman Omar herself must have "divided loyalty" for publicly mischaracterizing our foreign policy so misleadingly in her absurd reductionism, and encouraging others to do the same.
4
Appears that the only value of this action was to show some 23 Republicans won’t vote for apple pie or motherhood if it’s Dem sponsored. Maybe good to know.
On the other hand, Dems demonstrated no acuity here, and neither did/does Omar who appears tone deaf to the fact that at this point no matter what she says on this subject or how she says it, nobody is listening and no explanation will help. She should simply shut up and change the subject.
2
I believe that the fury over her comments is overblown (teachable moment anyone?) but I also believe that anti-Semitism must be specifically condemned and not lumped in with a whole bunch of objectionable language.
When “Black Lives Matter” became common to hear, there was a LOT of pushback about how “all lives matter” (and “blue lives matter”, etc). That sounded reasonable to me. Don’t all lives matter? Aren’t Islamophobia and white nationalist language also objectionable?
I then LISTENED, DEEPLY to what black activists were saying. They were not saying other lives don’t matter; they were calling out a specific objectionable problem that has a long, unique history.
For that reason, I believe the response should be to specifically call out anti-Semitism. You can then also confirm that all forms of hatred and discrimination are objectionable, but if Black Lives Matter (and I think they do), the anti-Semitism is also (specifically) wrong.
6
It seems to me that the fact that there is Islamophobia is no reason that a Muslim Member of Congress should make anti-Semitic comments. Bigotry against someone is no cause for that person to be a bigot against someone else. It should be worth pointing out that Jewish Americans have been most prominent in speaking against Islamophobia. That has been lost in the obfuscation about Rep Omar. And, Rep. Omar will now NOT be removed from a committee because she said that. Nonsense, says Francis Walsingham. Hundreds of millions of Americans know that our country supports the existence of Israel because of our values, not "Jewish money."
4
What, exactly, is antisemitic about Omar's statement “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is O.K. for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” ?
Forcing people to sign pledges not to engage in the BDS movement in order to keep their jobs is the sort of thing Omar is talking about. Inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress in the midst of the Obama administration's negotiations of the Iran nuclear deal is the sort of thing Omar is addressing, and few people involved in that bit of allegiance to a foreign country were Jewish. And as for her tweet that "it's all about the Benjamins", there are few members of our primarily Christian Congress about whom that could not be said, and there's research to prove it.
I'm an old voter, and I've asked myself for decades why U.S. support for Israel's right to exist has so long entailed support for absolutely every heinous thing the government of Israel has done and ostracism and/or punishment of anyone who says otherwise.
As Phyllis Bennis, of the Institute for Policy Studies and and Jewish Voice for Peace, stated on Democracy Now! this morning, the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. is not by any means solely Jewish and further, the negative response to Omar's statements are based far more on others' perceptions than her actual words.
3
As Israel is in the news for having snipers murder teenagers, there is compelling cause to criticize the government. Labeling such criticism as anti-Semitism is a disgrace. The government brutality and crimes have nothing to do with race or religion.
3
Israel is the country that congress dare not speak ill of. After all, we give aid to the tune of $3.2 billion to them. Our Christian religious zealots are in the pockets of the Right. If they anything is so much as mentioned about this cozy, scary relationships it is deemed with outrage to be Anti-Semitism. This trope is too convenient and it serves no one but the powerful in both the US and Israel. So I say, shame on those who wish to silence a first-term, young, vibrant congresswoman!
3
Micro aggression? Pretty soon a "how are you doing today?" will be considered a form of micro aggression. A World of Silence is upon US!
3
"[T]his is not the moment for Democrats to tear themselves apart over race and religion." Exactly. Omar's repeated verbal misfirings are totally unnecessary, unhelpful, and downright harmful at a time when the future of democracy is at stake. Let's just worry about whether we will have an America we recognize first. Is that too much to ask?
I think Ms. Omar is a bigot, meaning one who applies behavior she disapproves of or disagrees with to the miscreant's entire group. There is no group of people that is immune from having bigots in its midst. None. And no circumstances, personal or group, no matter how tragic or painful, justify bigotry. That is the standard we must all strive to live up to. Including Ms. Omar. It is nothing short of racially, ethnically, and religiously condescending -- bigoted -- to hold her to any other standard.
4
When I read micro aggressions, I shudder. It is as if we are all obliged to read from the same primer and to accept the same truths. But if this writer has listened to black americans point out what upsets them (some of which we whites were not aware of) perhaps she needs to consider that we do not know at all what Africans think - and Ms Omar is African. I do this informed by a decades old argument I had in a youth hostel in London with graduate students from India.
Let this one go. We will never really know what non-European Americans think. They won't tell us, because when they do, this is what happens.
3
So much of liberal politics today focuses on seeking to shun people who transgress any of the supposed new rules of identity politics. It’s like a compulsion.
Serving this compulsion to shun and condemn the impure — a strikingly illiberal and anti-pluralistic attitude — has taken deep root. To me, it’s a harmful offshoot of the drive to celebrate and protect all persons of whatever creed, gender, ethnicity, sexuality that I fought for in my youth. It needs to be opposed. Today maintaining orthodoxy on these issues is more important, apparently, than the price of food, the state of our infrastructure, or whether people can get good jobs. Do those of you who condemned Rep. Omar even have the slightest conception how alienating your attitude is to most of the country? Get back to work and don’t focus on nonsense already.
The knee jerk response to Omar's various remarks, remarks that I as a Jew don't find offensive, kinda proves her point, don't it?
439
@Cactus
Not if you don't think the reaction is a knee jerk reaction, which I, as a jew don't think it is a knee jerk reaction. She has somehow managed to invoke the 3 most notorious jew hating tropes that exist in a matter of weeks. It really doesn't matter whether she hates Jews or her intent was to cause harm, the outcome and too much rides on her choice of words for a Jew like me to consider it a knee jerk reaction.
You're entitled to your opinion, but please don't tokenize yourself by proclaiming your Judaism in an effort to somehow lend more credence to your opinions. You're doing a disservice to the Jewish community by doing so.
47
@Cactus, not only does it prove her point, or also brings out irrational response she reaction to those who are suddenly offended by words attitude (no action though).
4
@Cactus
The “bind” is because the leftist PC culture dictates labeling the speech, often by tangential associations, and then judging accordingly rather than simply attending to and responding to the explicit content. That is no way to communicate effectively with people.
4
I hope she learns to hate less and govern more. She was elected to represent all constituents. If she cannot perform her duties, then I hope the voters do the right thing.
3
It’s very sad how the left suddenly discovered antisemitism after trump was elected, only to fall back to denying it when it is coming from their own ranks. The left in this country—as in Europe—has been rife with antisemitism which has been denied and has only slowly and painfully come to light (for example, just recently in the women’s march). It’s time to call out Ilhan Omar as an antisemite, which is what her statements clearly indicate. Enough double standards.
301
@NYNY
This has been going on now on the Left for over 25 years if anyone was willing to open their eyes and forget the Left party line for a moment and just observe. Only now it's being realized by at least some mainstream Democrats?
27
@NYNY "Left, Left, Left," "Right, Right, Right" leads us too often to "Left, right, left, right..."
18
@NYNY
I criticize the US, that does not make me anti Christian, or anti all the other religions represented by US citizens.
I criticize Israel, too.
And that does not make me anti-Semitic.
All those so protective of Israel, are going to have to get used to it being absolutely fair to criticize Israel.
It is time to call out those who whine anti-Semitic at the slightest criticism of Israel.
And everyone knows, it is all about the Benjamins, in regards to most of Congress, for everything, but especially Israel.
Any Congressperson who is not completely pro Israel, gets with Israel or gets primaried by a very well funded opponent who is appropriately pro Israel.
Thank you, lhlan Omar, for breaking the ice of insanity in speaking about Israel and AIPAC!
Out of 535 Congresspeople it is about time someone supports Palestinians!
9
"Microaggression"? So a little bit of anti-Semitism is acceptable?
5
Michelle Goldberg "doth protest too much, methinks." Representative Omar's anti-Semitism goes back a number of years. In a 2012 tweet she wrote: "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel." That language evokes an anti-Semitic trope of Jews as practicing some type of sorcery that allows them to control others.
And now, again, Representative Omar does not hesitate to tell the world what she truly believes. Her "apologies" are all for nought; they contain insinuations that if members of Congress support Israel they must have been bought off by Jews. Yet Ms. Goldberg bends over backward to defend her. Ms. Goldberg dismisses her statements as "inadvertent slights" and is quick to "assume Omar has been reckless rather than malicious."
I doubt whether Representative Omar will heed Ms. Goldberg's advice "to to stop giving ammunition to those who want to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism." Nor will the House's resolution condemning "anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism and other forms of bigotry" change Representative Omar's virulent and dangerous bigotry.
6
“Mild antiSemitism”?????
Come on, Michelle.
Omar is exactly as advertised.
No legislated political correctness will change that. We will have to learn to live with her thinly veiled bigotry. Then vote.
The clock is ticking down to 2020.
Until then, all we can do is keep her in check and off any important policy-making committees.
The rising tide of hatred around the world cannot be tolerated or minimized here in what I still see as the cradle of liberty.
14
Michelle,
The "Zero Percent Doctrine" of Dick Cheney led us into the disastrous military misadvantures and interventions which we are still struggling to comprehend let along untangle ourselves from. The same attitude among "Liberals" to go after everyone and everything on sexism, racism and so on is destructive and distractive in its own way.
Ilhan Omar has the right to say what is on her mind. If she is wrong, tell her how she is wrong. Stop acting like she is persecuting anyone. I don't care for her hijab and many of her views might be parochial to her background & her community. But I respect her for being a public official, for being candid, and her work ethic (she is a millenial, a much-maligned demographic.) What is unacceptable is this piling on by the usual suspects in the right-wing media, and "righteous" suspects like yourself on the "mainstream" or lefty media.
Why don't all of you super-virtuous deities living in your glass houses back off for a few months and let her define herself? What are you afraid of? The demons in your own minds?
Yes, the holocaust happened, and it was evil. Are you seriously suggesting Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib are going to lead the Democrats and eventually enough Americans into an anti-Semitic pogrom? Really?
Enough with the piling on folks. AIPAC is not sacred. Mr. Adelson is not sacred. These young people are trying to fix a messed up world we are leaving them. Help or get out of the way already. Stop this Zero Percent mindset!
8
Thank you. It is perfectly OK to stand against Israeli policies if you find them objectionable, and with a little effort one do can it without being anti-Semitic.
3
There is no shame in feeling solidarity with people who share your religion and culture. Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick's day. Italian Americans join the Knights of Columbus. They're both largely loyal to the Church of Rome..
And no one questions that.
So why do Jewish Americans get so upset every time someone makes note of their support for Israel?
OF COURSE they support Israel. It would be unnatural if they didn't.
And it's unfair for anyone to criticize them because of it.
2
Israel is not a religion, the church is. Putting this confusion aside, you can worship whom ever you want, it's when you start making disparaging comments about other groups when it becomes an issue. These issues are all being conflated I feel intentionally at this point. Omar knows exactly what she is saying... Let's not pretend or make excuses for her.
1
Since when are repeated expressions of anti-Semitism by an elected representative of the United States “microagressions”? If Ilhan Omar wanted to specifically criticize policies of the Israeli government, she could have done so. Instead, she has suggested that Jews hold Svengali-like control over the United States, that we are disloyal and that we expect others to join in that disloyalty, and that our actions are ultimately motivated by love of money. There is nothing micro about those aggressions at all, Ms. Goldberg’s apologia not withstanding.
420
@Neil Schluger she's referring to AIPAC, Israel's version of the NRA who buy politicians on a regular basis. If Venezuela or Cuba threw as much money at politicians as Israel, cons would be freaking out. Can you imagine Congress ever passing a law banning companies that criticize Cuba from federal contracts?
34
@Neil Schluger Yea--she has said none of those things. That's a straw man.
23
@Neil Schluger
Certainly, as you note "There is nothing micro about those (Omar's) aggressions. But, she's also a smart woman and thus has the potential to learn . . . including what it will take to retain her seat in Congress.
As Tom Friedman, who grew up in her Minnesota district, points out in a related piece, she represents a diverse, well educated constituency who presumably chose her because she represented their interests, also presumably, not including use of anti-Semitic tropes.
And, also presumabably, her learning will lead her to both understand that and the full meaning of those tropes. If not, her learning may be accentuated by losing in a next primary election. As her district is the most Democratic district in the Upper Midwest, the Democrats needn't be overly concerned about her replacement's political allegience. And, thus, the Democrats in the U.S. Congress would do best by ignoring and, when necessary, as the GOP is finally doing with their racist millstone, Steve King, openly disputing any similar of Omar's verbal "errors" and then not get involved with back-and-forth Fox-newsworthy arguments.
8
I was willing to give her a pass the first time she said somethign. And the second. But I have a three strikes rule ... what's sad is that she could have diffused the situation by apologizing to Nita Lowey while pointing out how insane the GOP is. Something like " "As a Muslim-American, I am aware of the sting of the dual loyalty charge, and I am so sorry you heard my words that way, it was not my intent at all. Given that the GOP is passing anti-Sharia laws because they are afraid Muslim-Americans want to overthrow the Constitution. So I know how much that hurts."
On a secondary note, as one of the leftist Jews you reference, I have been shocked and saddened by how many other self-proclaimed progressives have been completely dismissive of any Jewish pain on this, and have acted completely incredulous as to why Jews would be upset to be told we use our money to buy support for Israel or are more loyalty to Israel than the US, because in their allegedly progressive minds, all that is true. Just read the comments section of this newspaper.
14
Ilhan Omar has committed the cardinal sin of promoting Palestinian rights, and her words will be twisted and distorted to smear her as anti-Semitic regardless of what she says. Her detractors will shoehorn her statements into the so-called "tropes" and "canards" of "classical anti-Semitism" in a malicious effort to defame her.
Omar didn't accuse "the Jews" of anything. She accused Israel of awful behavior, pro-Israel lobbyists of using money to influence politics, and both Jewish and non-Jewish individuals of devotion to Israel and applying pressure on Congress to either agree or remain silent. As a Jew, I don't feel the slightest bit offended or threatened.
I recently saw Alan Dershowitz speak at a synagogue, saying: "We have to hit them in the pocketbook. Don’t ever ever be embarrassed about using . . . Jewish power, whether it be intellectual, academic, economic, political. People write a book called the Israel lobby and complain that AIPAC is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. My response to that is, that’s not good enough. We should be the most powerful lobby in Washington . . . We are entitled to use our power. . . We have not only the right we have the obligation to speak out, and use every piece, every bit of power available in support of Israel."
Why is it OK for Dershowitz to boast of specifically Jewish economic and other influence on behalf of Israel, but a scandal for Omar to criticize pro-Israel influence, NOT specifically Jewish. It's absurd!
17
Perusing through the comments, many liberals defending her, or using words like unfortunate and fairness, and taking into consideration her upbringing in Somalia.
Question, would such an outpouring of understanding be so prevalent in this comment section if the perpetrator were a Republican?
How do you think Michelles column would read?
7
So, being critical of Israel & Netanyahu policies in Middle East & the massive flow of US dollars that support them is de-facto anti-Semitic. Therefore, my expressing concern about huge donations from evangelicals to defund planned parenthood and deny women’s rights and to prop up politicians willing to deny LGBTQ rights is anti-Christian. Got it..
14
@Concerned MD
Oh come now. Being critical of any nation and any nation’s leader is ok. Being critical of the amount raised by any group to promote certain agendas is ok.
But calling some Americans sinister creatures of “ divided loyalties” to USA for legal donations and PAC work—THAT is what crosses the line.
Like you, I strongly dislike defunding for Planned Parenthood, etc. But I do not doubt the full commitment to and love for USA of citizens taking such a stance.
4
Right there with the use of the phrase "Semi occult powers" you dismiss without ever raising the actual facts.
I just heard Pelosi say "How it was heard..." Another form of the same stunt.Which shows that the GOP is not the only bunch in DC who abuse intellectual process.
What we see here is a plethora of intellectual mistakes, dishonesty and confusion. All of it is the expert way the GOP has been abusing and misusing grammar for decades to manipulate all of us and hide the truth in plain sight. Some reporter's are in on it and some are fooled by it. Either state is not permanent often coming or going depending on the individual in question.
The fact is no one is responsible for what someone else thinks, mistakenly or not. That is the most obvious crime against Ilhan Omar here. She never said what is being attributed to her by distortion of her words like some juvenile claiming "I know what you really mean".
An awful lot of GOP rhetoric rests on that claim and have done for decades. It is a form of the dog whistle.
Look for Paul Waldman's article "The Dishonest Smearing of Ilhan Omar" I found a copy in the Salt Lake tribune. https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/03/05/paul-waldman-dishonest/
He seems to be the only reporter telling the unvarnished truth here.
I have no idea who this woman is but I do know she is being scape goated to hide what she has exposed.
2
It is fascinating how Ms. Goldberg and other progressives excuse Ms. Omar's obviously anti-Semitic statements. They say, well, her anti-Semitic remarks weren't so bad in context since other people have said bad things about Muslims, that Ms. Omar didn't understand the import of her words, that she has free speech rights to criticize Israel... It's just remarkable. Meanwhile, of course, Ms. Omar continues to sit in the House Foreign Affairs Committee where she can translate her anti-Semitism into action against Israel. Ms. Goldberg could care less, of course.
15
I am a liberal Democrat and Jewish. I am opposed to the settlements as I believe that they are a hindrance to a two state solution. That being said, I am sick and tired of anti-Semites crusading as legitimate critics of Israeli policy. Do these supporters of BDS, ( Rep Omar among them) have any understanding of the history of the Middle East? Do they understand that a Palestinian state was rejected in 1947 by the Arab countries that promised to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth? Do they understand that for 70 years the Palestinian people have been betrayed by their own leaders, who steal aid dollars ( Arafat) or utilize aid dollars to build tunnels and buy missiles rather than building an economy? When the pro Palestinian supporters decide to understand history rather than calling for the destruction of Israel using coded language, perhaps a peace agreement can be reached. The BDS movement makes things worse not better.
18
There are plenty of bigots-of-color in congress, but they aren't trotted out by the media as a show-pony for so-called progressivism. Rashida Tlaib , for example, hasn't gone focusing her bile on American jews, and instead works on REAL progressive-type issues those on the left and center-left tend to agree on. Omar HAS and has thus willingly made herself a target, while forcing many to endorse her bigotry, which is what the Republicans very much want.
6
I love that she’s being held accountable. Even dems piling on!
Ha
5
Her words were not bad and pushing back on foreign interests whose goals are not aligned with the US, whether it be Russia, China or Israel, is also not bad. I applaud representative Omar’s courage.
Rolling out the banner of anti Semitism at any hint of criticism of Israel’s immoral policies ultimately undermines the interests of Jews in the US, Israel, Europe and elsewhere. Letting Aipac operate like the NRA inside the US government, monetizing fear and scamming supporters, is unsustainable and counterproductive to the interests of Israel.
2
I have a huge problem with with the money Tom Steyer and other hideously wealthy individuals and groups throw around to politicians who are happy to take it. And i'm not naive enough to think they want nothing whatsoever for that money. I have a problem with the fact that because Steyer has so much money to throw around, he assumes that he deserves to be listened to above, say, constituents. (I'm assuming that my Republican Governor filed Steyer's letter demanding spport for Trump's impeachment in the trash.) I also had no idea that Steyer is Jewish. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Stop the commenting. You cannot hierarchy the suffering or pains of one over another by conflating and imposing your world view. You dont have the questions, answers or responses to anyone's sufferings but maybe yours. Let her, and others, speak their truth. This is her right, as well as the right of all of us. Stop it, you are not the arbiter of oppression.
1
As a teenager I rebelled against attending synagogue because the emphasis was all about supporting Israel, not addressing how my religion related to being a Jew in America.
Representative Omar feel back on some lame language but she wasn't wrong in her questioning. If she were a white evangelical this would be a non event.
We've apparently lost all sense of discretion when it comes to our choice of words or the measure of our reactions. Our Islamophobia has resulted in a knee jerk claim that she's an anti Semite. There's no real evidence to suggest that's the case.
2
There are "good people of both sides" of this issue
I put the term “micro-aggression” in the same category as “mojo”: it can mean whatever you want it to mean.
Unquestionably, the members of AIPAC have divided loyalties. They are not some exchange group, having music festivals and inviting the American public to share in the rich Israeli culture, they exist solely to advance Israel’s interests in Washington.
Ilhan Omar simply said what everyone already understands: lobbyists use money, directly and indirectly, to buy influence.
3
When does anti-Semitism become treachery to one’s country, so that like Jonathan Pollard’s allegiance to Israel’s interests it cancels an American’s allegiance to the United States?
It would seem that the point U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar raises was the question when does an American legislator’s concern for a foreign country with strong ties to the U.S. cross the line? When does loyalty to Israel’s security pass into subversion, sedition, and trading the United States security interests for the interests of a foreign country like Israel’s? Some Americans do not consider either Israel or Saudi Arabia a strategic ally to the extent that we would sacrifice our First Amendment rights, or our freedom to decide whether to support them?
To nations that do not respect our independence, as our Declaration of Independence puts it July 4, 1776, “We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.”
1
Good for the 23 Republicans who voted against this sham resolution. Faced with indisputably antisemitic comments from Omar, the House can't even bring itself to condemn her, but instead settles for an "All lives matter" resolution. All because, in Ms. Goldberg's words, Omar is a "black Muslim woman." While we're on the subject of bigotry and hate, perhaps Ms. Goldberg should do an article about what it's like to be female in the Muslim world. It's not Republicans and conservatives who justify things like the forced wearing of the hijab and other awful practices in Muslim-majority countries. And it's not Republicans and conservatives who support the BDS movement which is a hotbed of antisemitic sentiment on college campuses.
8
Thank you Ms Goldberg for your article.
I am a Jew, as far as I know 100 percent. My ancestors were victims and survivors of the inquisition, countless programs and the Shoah. They were money changers, money lenders, doctors, lawyers, electrical engineers, rabbis, philosophers, small manufacturers and merchants. I have a Harvard doctorate in applied mathematics and economics. I spent a few decades at Goldman Sachs running quantitative strategy depending businesses before I retired.
For one second did I take offense from İlhan Omar’s comments. Why should I? Here do called “tropes” are deemed as such because we want to deem them as such. When people mention that most successful violinists have been and continue to be Jews (from Odessa is the joke), or that there are more Nobel Prizes in the Sciences awarded to Jews then any other ethnic group (per capita unbelievably destorted distribution), we don’t turn back and call them antisemites as far as I know. And of course we should not.
Now, Omar didn’t even do any of this. I criticize the State if Israel, the influence of AIPAC in perpetuating the misery Isreal imposés on Palestinian people and the fact that money’s influence in politics is a dangerous tool against democracy all the time. I never was called an antisemite. Should have I been? Should have they censored me and pass resolutions against me in the univerity senate, or management committees?
I don’t think so.
6
Finally a response in a major outlet that is measured. thank you
2
This column deftly describes the basic dynamics going on here:
"Omar deserves criticism...[but]...has [instead] been subject to a terrifying campaign of racist vilification."
However, it skates superficially in discussing Omar's error. Her mistake has not been in "going too far," but in failing to think through thoroughly. The Israel-firster hypocrites vilifying her remarks are not actually "pushing allegiance to a foreign country," they are pushing blind subservience to the interests of a foreign crook, Netanyahu, who has been acting for decades against the interests of both America and his own country, Israel. Omar has thus erred by not extending her conclusions about the betrayal committed by many of her Congressional colleagues (also going on for decades) to their logical and fundamental underlying import.
The recent Congressional resolution itself seems comparatively harmless, and ought not to deter Omar from speaking her mind, but neither it nor Omar's remarks themselves offer any concrete probability of finally putting US foreign policy onto a more sensible and practical track.
Well argued by Ms Goldberg. The reaction to Omar is gotcha hysteria. By the way, there's a factor no one has mentioned. Ms Omar is a Muslim immigrant whose wider community has been attacked as 'loyal to foreign countries'. Don't you think she might be saying 'ok, what's good for the goose is good for the gander'?
2
Omar's comments are not "inadvertent" as you put it. She shows herself to be blatantly anti-semitic. Criticizing Israel in itself is not anti-semitic, but Omar has stepped far past that boundary.
8
When Goldberg writes that Congresswoman Omar has "invoked" anti-Semitic tropes, she is extrapolating Omar's statements, which were perfectly legitimate criticisms of Israel, AIPAC and their undue influence on US politicians.
The real trope, very much at work here, was expressed by Representative Juan Vargas, Democrat of California: "questioning support for the U.S.-Israel relationship is unacceptable.”
Judging from many comments, many from Jews themselves, that I have read about this tempest in teapot, people howling at real, in-depth criticism of Israel will have to get used to it.
2
Rep. Omar's photo is the perfect re-election poster image for all Republicans. Thanks, Rep. Omar. As if we needed another emotional, divisive issue on top of immigration, abortion, and gun rights/control to gin up fear and bigotry. There is zero chance of one Muslim Congress member out of 435 making any difference whatsoever in the relationship between the United States and Israel, but you just had to do it anyway. If Democrats do not take back the White House and lose more ground in the Senate, I will hold you personally responsible. To prevent that, please go back to freshman anonymity and do some grunt work for your constituents. Healthcare, housing, jobs, wages, all that mundane stuff that actually helps ordinary Americans.
4
One could be generous and consider Rep Omar's anti-Semitic remarks about Jews as an indication of her ignorance. Several years ago, my wife and I traveled by train in Morocco and took the Marrakesh Express from Fez. Over the course of this journey we met many young Moroccans who sat with us in our compartment. They believed all sorts of unrealistic ideas such as America staging 9/11 as a pretense for invading the Middle East and they were astounded to hear the truth which they listened carefully to (though it's not clear they were convinced).
Perhaps Rep Omar has been filled with ignorant notions such as the Protocols of Zion and has never been to the Holocaust Museum or the 9/11 Monument in NYC? I don't know how devout a Moslem she is, but perhaps she lives in a religious bubble in a separate reality like many Republicans who regularly swallow the Fox News nonsense? And perhaps she does not know that after Israel's War of Independence hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to leave their Arab homes, their lands and properties?
3
That level of ignorance she shares with vast majority of young Americans and people around the world.
If recognizing that Israel oppresses Palestinians by locking them into an outdoor prison in Gaza makes me anti-Semitic then consider me anti-Semitic. I wonder what my Belarusian Jewish ancestors would think of me now. Apparently Omar's comments were clumsy, but in no way infer that she hates Jews because they are some sort of lesser species. You can't say that about a good sub-section of Trump's supporters. Omar is an important voice in America and needs to be heard.
1