My mom often cited a certain saying when talking about men she dated: “When they tell you who they are, believe them.” It also works for just about everyone, even politicians. And since taking office, Rep. Ilhan Omar has repeatedly told us who she is: an anti-Semite.
During her campaign, the Minnesota Democrat insinuated she was against the boycott, divest and sanctions movement, a supposedly pro-Palestinian protest movement awash in anti-Semitism. But after taking office, she came out in favor of BDS.
In explaining her about-face, her campaign offered, “Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized. She does, however, have reservations on the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution.”
Hold on: Omar believes that Israel should be boycotted and punished but doesn’t believe that it will have any effect on the conflict? Why engage in these punitive acts if they won’t make a difference?
The answer is simple: to punish Israel. Omar believes Israel deserves to be singled out above other countries and held to a different standard because it is the only Jewish state in the world.
If Omar’s concern was truly for the Palestinian people and her support for anti-Israel sanctions was truly humanitarian in origin, she would surely vote in favor of a bill to sanction Turkey because of their horrific actions against the Kurdish people. But Omar’s concern clearly isn’t for human rights — on Tuesday, she was the only Democrat to vote against sanctions targeting Turkey.
Omar didn’t stop there, either. Do not for a moment be fooled into believing she cares about intellectual honesty or human rights. The congresswoman doesn’t even care about genocide, which is why she also voted “present” on a resolution calling the Turkish campaign against the Armenians in the early 20th century what it is: a genocide. Her office’s attempt to explain away this vote was woefully inadequate.
Omar opposed calling out Turkey for its actions against the Armenians because … the slave trade and Native Americans?
Given the opportunity between calling out a serial bad actor on the world stage and a perpetrator of the first state-driven genocide in the modern era, Omar chose instead to set up an American straw man to burn in effigy instead. And given the opportunity to punish the same state for its human rights violations in the present day, Omar broke with her entire caucus and refused. The congresswoman has officially shown us who she is.
With Omar’s votes this week on Turkey, the motivations behind her stance on BDS becomes crystal clear. Omar’s anti-Semitism isn’t limited to her Twitter account. It is now documented in her voting record in Congress, too.
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My question pertains exclusively to people in battleground states. It does not pertain to people in red or blue states. In the eyes of battleground voters, do you think Ilhan Omar is positively or negatively representing Islam?
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