With 'End of Discussion'-style arguments and tactics running rampant in our politics, it's important to note that while the collective Left represents more systemic and egregious offender, the Right routinely indulges in the same sort of demagoguery, too. Examples include lumping all Black Lives Matter activists as virulently, or even violently, anti-police, conflating support for a military conflict with respect for 'the troops,' and dismissing all criticisms of Israeli government policy with anti-Semitism. These are unfair generalizations designed to shut down legitimate debate and disqualify the opposition. But that doesn't mean that hardcore anti-law enforcement attitudes, contempt for the military, and hatred of Jews are not real phenomena. They most certainly are, unfortunately.
In the case of Rep. Ilhan Omar, (at least) the latter shoe fits. She has forfeited the benefit of the doubt on the question of anti-Semitism, due to a series of public comments and actions. She is who we thought she was. Fresh on the heels of refusing to apologize for her dual loyalty trope, which was merely the latest manifestation of her anti-Jewish bigotry, Omar has announced that she will introduce a so-called 'BDS' resolution on the House floor. Her legislation will call for the United States to 'boycott, divest, and sanction' Israel. Considering the context, the Nazi parallel she draws is breathtakingly perverse:
.@IlhanMN said she plans on introducing the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" resolution this week.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 17, 2019
"I believe and support the BDS movement." https://t.co/LR0XYJ2WqM
Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced a resolution in support of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement saying it was in a long tradition of U.S. boycotts. "Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad including ... boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust," Omar said in the resolution introduced Tuesday. The 1930s boycott by the U.S. Jews of German goods came during the lead up to Holocaust starting in part with Germans boycotting Jewish businesses.
(1) Omar deceived voters on the issue of BDS during her campaign, reversing her public position after getting elected:
Back at home, many of her Jewish constituents were grappling with remarks her office made on Sunday to a website called MuslimGirl, claiming that Omar supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. This seemed like a bait-and-switch to many Jewish Minnesotans: When she was asked at an August primary debate held in a synagogue to specify “exactly where you stand” on BDS, Omar said that BDS was “not helpful in getting that two-state solution” — never explaining that she in fact supported the policy.
She said BDS was "not helpful" as a candidate, and is now a leading champion of it as an elected legislator, just a few months later. Imagine that. This is also a good point:
Ilhan Omar in January: Sanctions would hurt Venezuelans!
— Mikhael Smits (@mikhaelsmits) July 17, 2019
Ilhan Omar this week: Let’s sanction Israel!@IlhanMN keeps doing it, and some folks STILL can’t figure out why. pic.twitter.com/yokrThwlj8
(2) Her BDS stance is not the only topic on which Omar has been deceitful. We already know that she misspent campaign funds and violated the law by filing joint taxes with a man to whom she was not married. But her deflections and unresponsive umbrage on the subject of her marriage continues to look worse and worse. It is increasingly plausible that in addition to campaign finance violations and apparent tax fraud, Omar could well be guilty of immigration fraud, too:
New investigative documents released by a state agency have given fresh life to lingering questions about the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and whether she once married a man — possibly her own brother — to skirt immigration laws. Omar has denied the allegations in the past, dismissing them as “baseless rumors” first raised in an online Somali politics forum and championed by conservative bloggers during her 2016 campaign for the Minnesota House. But she said little then or since about Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the former husband who swept into her life in 2009 before a 2011 separation. The questions surfaced again this month in a state probe of campaign finance violations showing that Omar filed federal taxes in 2014 and 2015 with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, while she was still legally married to but separated from Elmi. Although she has legally corrected the discrepancy, she has declined to say anything about how or why it happened. The new documents also detail the Omar campaign’s efforts to keep the story of her marriage to Elmi out of the press...The search of records could neither conclusively confirm nor rebut the allegation that he is Omar’s sibling. Sent a list of questions and a request to talk to her siblings and father, Omar declined to do so.
Omar is refusing to comply with journalists' requests, is stonewalling all efforts at transparency, is attacking those questioning her as 'bigots' (surprise!), and insisting that her family is off limits. Not if she married her brother to flout immigration law, it's not -- especially as she postures and preens on immigration issues.
(3) BDS is a fundamentally anti-Semitic movement. I'll allow the most powerful Democrat in the Senate explain why:
"We must continue to stand firm against the profoundly biased campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel through [BDS]...While Iran publicly executes its citizens, Turkey jails its journalists, scores of Arab nations punish homosexuality with imprisonment and torture, why does BDS single Israel out alone for condemnation? When there is such a double standard, when the world treats everybody one way and the Jew or the Jewish state another way, there's only one word for it: anti-Semitism! Let us call out the BDS movement for what it is. Let us delegitimize the delegitimizers by letting the world know when there is a double standard."
Even if some percentage (deeply misguided and ignorant, in my view) BDS adherents are not motivated by anti-Jewish hatred or suspicion, the movement is steeped in very ugly bigotry -- and Omar has repeatedly shown her true colors. Here's one person who has rushed to Omar's defense:
.@UKLabour stands in solidarity with the four Congresswomen of colour subjected to Donald Trump's racism.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 17, 2019
Sign the letter to stand with @IlhanMN, @AOC, @RashidaTlaib and @AyannaPressley.https://t.co/aQzgxix1dJ
Suffice it to say that Ilhan Omar would feel very much at home in Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, even if Corbyn bent over backward to suppress the truth:
As for the "send her back" chant from some -- definitely not all -- at Trump's rally last night, here are my thoughts:
Check my feed. I’m very tough on Omar bc she deserves it, on the merits.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 18, 2019
I am sickened by the hate-laced “send her back” chants. Shame on every person who participated.
POTUS has a responsibility to put an end to it. He alone has the ability to do so. Chant “vote her out.”
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