{"id":11286,"date":"2019-03-08T11:49:27","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T19:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=11286"},"modified":"2019-03-08T11:49:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T19:49:29","slug":"this-jew-tells-speaker-pelosi-you-may-well-prove-ilhan-omar-correct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/03\/08\/this-jew-tells-speaker-pelosi-you-may-well-prove-ilhan-omar-correct\/","title":{"rendered":"This Jew Tells Speaker Pelosi: “You May Well Prove Ilhan Omar Correct”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 07, 2019 by Common Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, all the vague media references to Rep Omar’s so-called “anti-Semitic remarks” obscure how truthful and non-hateful those comments were<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Jeff Cohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) poses for photographs with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her family in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol January 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly<\/a> still considering a symbolic \u201cshow vote\u201d in Congress on an anti-Semitism and \u201chate\u201d resolution<\/a> \u2013 which would offer all the authenticity and honesty of a Soviet show trial. If Pelosi proceeds, it will prove Rep. Ilhan Omar\u2019s point about the inordinate influence wielded over Congress by the \u201cIsrael-right or-wrong\u201d\/AIPAC lobby and its power to stifle criticism of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anti-Omar resolution, whether mentioning Omar or not, was originated<\/a> by two Democrats who are among Congress\u2019s most longstanding pro-Israel diehards: Reps. Eliot Engel<\/a> and Nita Lowey. Both endorsed Bush\u2019s Iraq invasion. Both opposed Obama\u2019s Iran nuke deal. Both supported Trump\u2019s move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A large number of proud Jewish Americans\u2014raised to believe in civil liberties and open discussion\u2014are appalled by the campaign to muzzle Rep. Ilhan Omar, as well as Speaker Pelosi\u2019s role in it. We’re also appalled that human-rights-abusing Israel is virtually off-limits to debate.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a proud Jew raised in a liberal family that supported civil rights and human rights. My experience growing up during the 1950s and 1960s was typical of many Jewish Americans. Like many Jews with this background, I\u2019ve grown increasingly ashamed of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 40 years, Israel has been ruled mostly by a series of right-wing governments \u2013 more and more openly racist and abusive of Palestinian rights. It\u2019s not the land of tree-planting, kibbutzim and \u201ca country treating its Arab minority nicely\u201d that we were sold as youngsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why a large number of proud Jewish Americans\u2014raised to believe in civil liberties and open discussion\u2014are appalled by the campaign to muzzle Rep. Ilhan Omar, as well as Speaker Pelosi\u2019s role in it. We\u2019re also appalled that human-rights-abusing<\/a> Israel is virtually off-limits to debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Jews\u2014the likes of Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner excepted\u2014empathize with the refugee experience. Only a rare few cannot be impressed by the life story<\/a> of Omar, who fled civil-war-torn Somalia and came to the U.S. as a refugee at age 12, knowing only two English phrases: \u201chello\u201d and \u201cshut up.\u201d Now a Muslim Congresswoman, she’s recently faced hateful bias<\/a> and threats<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Omar has made a simple and undeniable point \u2013 that AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the funding it influences exert extraordinary power over Congress<\/a>. Disputing that point is flat-earther terrain. The Capitol Hill farce of an \u201canti-hate\u201d resolution would provide still more evidence on behalf of her argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, all the vague media references to Rep Omar\u2019s \u201canti-Semitic remarks\u201d obscure how truthful and non-hateful those comments were. You can see a series of her recent tweets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressive Jews are rushing to her defense<\/a> because of tweets like this one<\/a> that speak for us in a way few members of Congress ever have:  \u201cBeing opposed to Netanyahu and the occupation is not the same as being anti-Semitic. I am grateful to the many Jewish allies who have spoken out and said the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his Washington Post column \u201cThe dishonest smearing of Ilhan Omar<\/a>,\u201d Paul Waldman devastatingly countered the recent attack on Omar over her comment at a town hall: \u201cI want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial media frenzy in February over two of Omar\u2019s tweets<\/a> was so huge that it obscured the fact that the uproar was sparked by a total of seven words \u2013 and six of those words are the refrain of a famous Puff Daddy song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It began when Omar retweeted Glenn Greenwald\u2019s comment about GOP congressional leader Kevin McCarthy\u2019s \u201cattacking the free speech rights<\/a>\u201d of Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib for criticizing Israel \u2013 to which Omar, a known critic of money in politics<\/a>, simply added the Puff Daddy refrain:  \u201cIt\u2019s all about the Benjamins, baby.\u201d (Benjamins refer to $100 bills.) When a tweeter asked her who Omar thinks is funding politicians to defend Israel, Omar responded with a one-word tweet: \u201cAIPAC!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feeding frenzy over these two flippant but truthful tweets forced Omar to apologize<\/a> (something Trump has not been forced to do over hundreds of dishonest, racist and\/or threatening ones).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet if you spend a day on Capitol Hill and talk (off-the-record) with a member of Congress about this topic, you\u2019ll hear plenty about AIPAC\u2019s awesome clout and its ability to unleash \u201cBenjamins\u201d<\/a>  to bully Congress.  Books<\/a> and articles<\/a> have documented this truism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the New York Times<\/a><\/em>, AIPAC allies now want to oust Ilhan Omar from Congress and hope to \u201cpunish Ms. Omar . . . with a primary challenge in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the well-funded Israel-right-or-wrong lobby comes after her, we\u2019ll likely see a massive counter-movement of progressive Jews and non-Jews \u201cStanding with Omar\u201d \u2013 and through the Internet, matching the other side Benjamin for Benjamin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 07, 2019 by Common Dreams Unfortunately, all the vague media references to Rep Omar’s so-called “anti-Semitic remarks” obscure how truthful and non-hateful those comments were by Jeff Cohen Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) poses for photographs with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her family in the Rayburn… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11287,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11286\/revisions\/11287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}