Ilhan Omar feigns ignorance about antisemitism
David Freddoso
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who just barely survived a primary election challenge last year in her deep-blue Minneapolis district, is best known nationally for her repeated antisemitic comments. Her House colleagues brought a resolution to the floor specifically addressing her antisemitism. Democratic leaders knew she was in the wrong, and they proved as much when, in order to spare themselves even worse embarrassment, they brought their own watered-down resolution that avoided getting too close to the mark with respect to Omar’s antisemitism.
Omar has repeatedly insinuated that American Jews and Jewish lawmakers have dual loyalties to the United States and Israel — which is not a criticism of Israel, but a classic antisemitic trope about Jews being disloyal to the countries they live in. You can’t spell that out too much more clearly than Omar did when she said in a town hall meeting, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for the allegiance to a foreign country.”
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Omar also once tweeted that “it’s all about the Benjamins baby,” insinuating that it is Jewish money, not any sincere belief in the Israeli cause widely shared in both parties, that manipulates and determines congressional action (and public opinion, for that matter) on foreign affairs in Israel’s favor.
Several years ago, Omar stated on Twitter that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” It’s no crime to criticize Israel, but this clearly invokes another classic trope, designed to generate resentment, about Jews having secret powers of persuasion or even mind-control in order to use others.
I bring this up now because, on Sunday, Omar was asked point-blank on CNN about her record of flagrantly antisemitic comments because those comments have threatened to get her ejected from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She replied — and I’m not making this up:
“I certainly did not, or was not aware, that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. That has been a very enlightening part of this journey,” Omar said. “To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong.”
So, here’s a question: How do you progress that far in life, all the way to winning a seat in Congress, without ever understanding that tropes exist about Jews and money? Or is it just that you’re so used to invoking such tropes that you never realized there was a problem? (While we’re at it, has anyone ever asked Omar specifically whether she believes the Holocaust happened? Or whether she’s ever heard of it?)
No one should buy this act. Omar’s feigned ignorance and sympathetic, just-off-the-boat naivete doesn’t match up with the conniving husband-stealing, political money operator that her actual record points to. As for the antisemitic comments she seems unable to avoid, I believe she enjoys irritating people with them because that is the first step toward mainstreaming such statements.
To believe her excuses is a choice that only an extremely motivated partisan listener would ever make.
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