March Madness has begun, though that’s an endless cycle in today’s political world. No, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), you’re anti-Semitic antics did not just wash away, though the Virginia Democratic Party has gotten away with murder with their racist antics concerning, its governor and attorney general admitting to wearing blackface. The lieutenant governor has been accused of sexually assaulting two women as well.
Omar has engulfed her entire party in an anti-Semitism flap that isn’t going away. For starters, she keeps peddling this bigoted trash. In 2012, she accused Israel of hypnotizing the world, then in the House, she had the 'all about the Benjamins' tweet concerning AIPAC and donations. And now, she accused those who support Israel of dual loyalty. It forced the House to vote on a watered-down resolution against bad things, which was originally against anti-Semitism, but some Democrats feared it would single Omar out. The Democratic Party is rapidly becoming an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel party. Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems incapable of confronting these new radicals. And now, she’s hit another iceberg on the Israeli-Palestinian front, writing an op-ed supporting a two-state solution (via Washington Post):
I support a two-state solution, with internationally recognized borders, which allows for both Israelis and Palestinians to have their own sanctuaries and self-determination. This has been official bipartisan U.S. policy across two decades and has been supported by each of the most recent Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as the consensus of the Israeli security establishment. As Jim Mattis, who later was President Trump’s defense secretary, said in 2011, “The current situation between those two peoples is unsustainable.”
Working toward peace in the region also means holding everyone involved accountable for actions that undermine the path to peace — because without justice, there can never be a lasting peace. When I criticize certain Israeli government actions in Gaza or settlements in the West Bank, it is because I believe these actions not only threaten the possibility of peace in the region — they also threaten the United States’ own national security interests.
My goal in speaking out at all times has been to encourage both sides to move toward a peaceful two-state solution. We need to reinsert this call back into the public debate with urgency. Both parties must come to the table for a final peace deal; violence will not bring us any closer to that day.
Yeah, sounds all good, until you get to her apparent support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Disinvestment, and Sanctions movement that has been accused of being viciously anti-Semitic. Well, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, huh? Melissa Weiss, national campus director for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, asked on Twitter, how could Omar support this policy, while being a supporter of the BDS movement. The short answer is you cannot, especially when the BDS crew doesn’t hold that view. This was brought up when Omar was elected last year (via CBS Minnesota):
Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar’s support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel has some in Minnesota’s Jewish community asking questions, as before the election she reportedly called the movement “counteractive” to the goal of a two-state solution.
… the website Muslim Girl posted an article, saying that Omar’s staff told the blog Sunday that the congresswoman-elect “believes in and supports” the pro-Palestinian movement, which seeks to put international pressure on Israel.
The staffer added that Omar, who won Minnesota’s 5th District congressional seat last week in a landslide, has “reservations about the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution.”
… TC Jewfolk, a website focusing on the Twin Cities Jewish community, took issue with Omar’s stance on the BDS movement, noting that it didn’t appear to gel with what she said to the Jewish community before being elected to Congress.
In August, ahead of the DFL primary contest, Omar said at a candidate forum that the BDS movement was “not helpful” to the ultimate goal of a two-state solution, TC Jewfolk reports. When asked specifically by the moderator about her position on BDS, Omar replied that it was “counteractive” to getting both sides to come to the table.
… TC Jewfolk reached out the congresswoman-elect to clarify her position. In a series of screengrabbed text messages posted to the TC Jewfolk website, Omar says that her position has always been the same: that she believes and supports the BDS movement. She defended her answers at the forum, saying that nothing she said was politically expedient.
I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how @Ilhan supports a two-state solution *and* the BDS movement. They are mutually exclusive - the founders of the BDS movement have explicitly called for the destruction of Israel.
— Melissa Weiss (@melissaeweiss) March 18, 2019
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