Ilhan Omar: Anti-Uniformity or Anti-Semite?

Opinion

Photo from Google Images

By Aaron Sincere Kershaw

Is Ilhan Omar anti-Semitic? Let’s polygraph that claim.

Ilhan Omar of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District is a new bold voice in the Democratic Party, whose family fled Somalia's Civil War to arrive in Kenyan refugee camps at the age of 8. By twelve, Omar's family arrived in the United States, eventually settling in Minnesota in 1997. Omar's experiences inform her political philosophy and make her unapologetic and fierce in her approach. 

Omar has made clear that her unique perspective as the first refugee elected to U.S. Congress that tolerance for immigrants is an American principle she intends to fight for in Washington. 

This same unique upbringing is perhaps central to Omar’s opposition to America’s support of Israel and in disbelief of the claim that the State of Israel is a democracy. In late 2018, Israel passed a controversial law defining itself as a state of the Jewish people. As a result, Israel’s non-Jewish citizens are legally second-class citizens, affirming the perceived societal designation felt by the Palestinian people. Omar dismisses the claim that Israel is a democracy as long as laws like this exist.

“When I see Israel institute a law that recognizes it as a Jewish State, and does not recognize the other religions that are living in it, and we still uphold it as a democracy in the middle east… I almost chuckle,” Omar said to Yahoo News. As a Muslim woman who recalls discrimination and terror in some cases due to her religious beliefs, Omar believes that America should hold its allies accountable for its inequities.

Former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill was fired after criticizing Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.

Photo from Google Images/ National Review

While accountability in partnerships is not a radical idea in American politics, holding Israel accountable is a controversial position indeed. In late 2018, former CNN contributor and activist/author Marc Lamont Hill was fired by the news organization for criticizing Israels’ oppression of Palestinians.

“We must promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but cannot endorse narrow politics that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the face of state violence and ethnic cleansing…”, Hill said at a United Nations event on November 2018. CNN branded both Marc Lamont Hill’s opposition to Israeli policy, as well as his condemnation of Palestinian oppression as anti-semitism. 

This very same position is where Representative Omar finds herself.

Photo by: iStock

AIPAC, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a pro-Israel lobbying organization whose purpose is to promote and strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship. Like all lobbying organizations of great power, AIPAC uses its political dollars to help elect pro-Israel candidates. That influence was greatly exhibited during the 2016 election where candidates from each party attempted to “out pro-Israel” the other. 

AIPAC’s ability to exert influence on both major political parties makes any political critique of Israel a lonely position to take.

 Unlike other lobbying organizations, AIPAC has a built-in pseudo-moral defense to its monetary political contributions. Because of the very real historical hate and oppression against Jewish people (for which I show great empathy) have suffered, and the existing tropes that make implications about Jewish wealth and influence, Omar or anyone else acknowledging that the State of Israel has much power and influence has automatically become an anti-Semitic position. 

Essentially, criticizing a country’s politics has now become synonymous with criticizing Judaism. This would be similar to if criticizing a country like Iraq, which is comprised of 97% Muslims was automatically described as an anti-Islamic position.

Via Twitter > IlhanMN

Omar tweeted after push back from her public criticism of Israeli policy, “I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress”. Omar’s refusal to provide blind support of Israel resulted in both Democratic and Republican rebukes. Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) response was telling, claiming that any questioning of support for U.S.-Israel’s relationship was “unacceptable”. This makes clear that in American politics any criticism of Israel can and likely will be branded as anti-semitism. 

So, is Ilhan Omar anti-Semitic? No.

Since elected, Representative Ilhan Omar has received harsh criticism by both politicians and national news media in response to her political positions. However, the fairness of the critiques are questionable and some of her positions have been placed out of context and/or fabricated. 

Ilhan Omar is a critic of Israeli policy, which does threaten the lockstep uniformity of American support of Israel, however, that does not make Ilhan Omar or anyone for that matter an anti-semite. It makes Omar a politician whose political positions can not be bought or bullied into submission, even by our allies.

Update: August 15th, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) were denied entry to Israel just hours after President Donald Trump called for a ban.