Quote of the Day: Anti-Semitic or Anti-Israel—or Both?

 

“Now, it isn’t inherently anti-Semitic to be critical of Israeli political leadership or policies. The Democratic Party antagonism toward the Jewish state has been well-established over the past decade. But [Ilhan] Omar used a well-worn anti-Semitic trope about the preternatural ability of a nefarious Jewish cabal to deceive the world.

“It’s something you would expect to read in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or hear from a professor of comparative literature at Columbia University, not a US congresswoman.

“Omar had a chance to retract, or at least refine, her statement. Instead, she doubled down. ‘These accusations are without merit,’ she claimed, blaming Jewish Islamophobia for the backlash. ‘They are rooted in bigotry toward a belief about what Muslims are stereotyped to believe.’” — David Harsanyi, The New York Post

One of two Muslim women who were elected to Congress, Ilhan Omar, is showing her true colors. Although she originally presented herself as a moderate Muslim, her positions are becoming clear. She now calls Israel an apartheid state. She once had reservations about the BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanction) movement, which targets Israel; she now supports it. And she has shown disdain for Israel and the Jewish people.

Most American Jews will probably shrug at her positions, since many are highly critical of Israel themselves. After all, how much damage can one Islamist do? Not a whole lot, on her own. Unfortunately, there has been evidence for years that many Muslims are employed by the US government; it’s impossible to know whether they love this country or have allegiances elsewhere.

I wonder if Ilhan Omar would have been elected if she’d been honest with the electorate.

Published in Politics
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 151 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    I hope when she shows up in her Hijab ( breaking a couple of centuries of tradition in Congress about religious head gear) every Republican shows up in a yarmulke.

    • #1
  2. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I wouldn’t hold my breath, @kozak. But I very much like the thought.

    • #2
  3. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    So is anyone surprised?

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I Walton (View Comment):

    So is anyone surprised?

    Nope. But why aren’t people uneasy or wondering where these kinds of choices are leading us? Are we going to simply say that, oh well, politicians always lie. (I get your irony, @iwalton.)

    • #4
  5. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn:

    She once had reservations about the BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanction) movement, which targets Israel; she now condemns it.

    I think you  mean “she now supports it.” (The BDS movement, that is.)

    I wonder if Ilhan Omar would have been elected if she’d been honest with the electorate.

    Well, if she was, the news media would have had to report on it. And they did a great job keeping all her anti-Semitic nonsense and all her legal issues buried. Remember, this is the same district that elected the abusive anti-Semite Keith Ellison, so I had no doubts she’d get elected.

    She has other problems, too, including tax fraud, immigration fraud, marriage fraud . . . but don’t you dare bring those things up or you’re a racist, Islamophobic white supremacist.

     

    • #5
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn:

    She once had reservations about the BDS (Boycott/Divest/Sanction) movement, which targets Israel; she now condemns it.

    I think you mean “she now supports it.” (The BDS movement, that is.)

    I wonder if Ilhan Omar would have been elected if she’d been honest with the electorate.

    Well, if she was, the news media would have had to report on it. And they did a great job keeping all her anti-Semitic nonsense and all her legal issues buried. Remember, this is the same district that elected the abusive anti-Semite Keith Ellison, so I had no doubts she’d get elected.

    She has other problems, too, including tax fraud, immigration fraud, marriage fraud . . . but don’t you dare bring those things up or you’re a racist, Islamophobic white supremacist.

    Thanks, Drew. The whole idea makes me so angry that I can’t think straight!

    • #6
  7. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    Well, if she was, the news media would have had to report on it. And they did a great job keeping all her anti-Semitic nonsense and all her legal issues buried. Remember, this is the same district that elected the abusive anti-Semite Keith Ellison, so I had no doubts she’d get elected.

    And in spite of Ellison’s other issues (beating his girlfriend), he was elected their new attorney general. Anyone want to stand up for Minnesota?

    • #7
  8. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Anyone want to stand up for Minnesota?

    Well, the North Shore is beautiful.

     

    • #8
  9. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Anyone want to stand up for Minnesota?

    Well, the North Shore is beautiful.

     

    Good for you, Drew. At least Minnesotans haven’t messed that up–yet.

    • #9
  10. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I Walton (View Comment):

    So is anyone surprised?

    Nope. But why aren’t people uneasy or wondering where these kinds of choices are leading us? Are we going to simply say that, oh well, politicians always lie. (I get your irony, @iwalton.)

         The question is not whether politicians always lie. (They do.) The question is whether the media will provide cover for them.

    • #10
  11. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Anyone want to stand up for Minnesota?

    Well, the North Shore is beautiful.

    Good for you, Drew. At least Minnesotans haven’t messed that up–yet.

    And that historically blue-collar (and blue) district just elected a Republican. It also went for President Trump in 2016.

    • #11
  12. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I Walton (View Comment):

    So is anyone surprised?

    Nope. But why aren’t people uneasy or wondering where these kinds of choices are leading us? Are we going to simply say that, oh well, politicians always lie. (I get your irony, @iwalton.)

    The question is not whether politicians always lie. (They do.) The question is whether the media will provide cover for them.

    Now that would make an interesting post–all the intentional cover that the media gives the Dems . . . nah, it would be too long.

    • #12
  13. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Susan Quinn: I wonder if Ilhan Omar would have been elected if she’d been honest with the electorate.

    Considering who she is replacing, I think she was elected because of, not in spite of, those views.

    • #13
  14. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    And that historically blue-collar (and blue) district just elected a Republican. It also went for President Trump in 2016.

    That’s what happens when the long disenfranchisement of walleyes finally comes to an end.

    • #14
  15. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Kozak (View Comment):

    I hope when she shows up in her Hijab ( breaking a couple of centuries of tradition in Congress about religious head gear) every Republican shows up in a yarmulke.

    I’m fine with people showing up hijabs. Why was their a century long tradition against religious headgear.

    • #15
  16. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    It’s something you would expect to read in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or hear from a professor of comparative literature at Columbia University, not a US congresswoman.

    Really? I’d be willing to bet at least 10% of Democratic congresspeople buy into similar views. Is there any doubt that Maxine Waters agrees? Cynthia McKinney used to be there, too. And they’re just the ones dumb enough to say something like that out loud.

    • #16
  17. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Susan Quinn: Unfortunately, there has been evidence for years that many Muslims are employed by the U.S. government; it’s impossible to know whether they love this country or have allegiances elsewhere.

    You’re straying dangerously close to the anti-Semites’ “Jews first allegiance is to Israel” territory.

    • #17
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Unfortunately, there has been evidence for years that many Muslims are employed by the U.S. government; it’s impossible to know whether they love this country or have allegiances elsewhere.

    You’re straying dangerously close to the anti-Semites’ “Jews first allegiance is to Israel” territory.

    How do you see that? The Islamist allegiance is to sharia over the Constitution (not necessarily to another country. There’s no religious conflict for Jews. 

    • #18
  19. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Unfortunately, there has been evidence for years that many Muslims are employed by the U.S. government; it’s impossible to know whether they love this country or have allegiances elsewhere.

    You’re straying dangerously close to the anti-Semites’ “Jews first allegiance is to Israel” territory.

    How do you see that? The Islamist allegiance is to sharia over the Constitution (not necessarily to another country. There’s no religious conflict for Jews.

    I just think you’re painting with a pretty broad brush.

    • #19
  20. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Unfortunately, there has been evidence for years that many Muslims are employed by the U.S. government; it’s impossible to know whether they love this country or have allegiances elsewhere.

    You’re straying dangerously close to the anti-Semites’ “Jews first allegiance is to Israel” territory.

    How do you see that? The Islamist allegiance is to sharia over the Constitution (not necessarily to another country. There’s no religious conflict for Jews.

    That’s parsing it a little fine.  Jonathon Pollard may not have been motivated by religion (??) but he was motivated by something equivalently tribal.

    • #20
  21. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    I just think you’re painting with a pretty broad brush.

    I probably am, @randywebster. So let me step back a bit and offer this thought (and not sound like a conspiracy theorist). We most likely have a tiny percentage of Islamists in the US bureaucracy. They are likely not active terrorists, but they are sympathetic to the cause and pose no imminent danger. The fact is, though, there is nothing to be done about their presence in government. We don’t try to control people’s thinking or beliefs. Still, it makes me a bit uneasy. And now we have a person who is blatantly (I believe) anti-Semitic and anti-Israel in the House. It doesn’t make me happy.

    • #21
  22. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Zafar (View Comment):
    That’s parsing it a little fine. Jonathon Pollard may not have been motivated by religion (??) but he was motivated by something equivalently tribal.

    @zafar, I agree with your comment about his action being tribal. But how many Jonathan Pollards have you seen? Is he representative of any group. Who’s parsing a little fine? ;-)

    • #22
  23. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    That’s parsing it a little fine. Jonathon Pollard may not have been motivated by religion (??) but he was motivated by something equivalently tribal.

    @zafar, I agree with your comment about his action being tribal. But how many Jonathan Pollards have you seen? Is he representative of any group. Who’s parsing a little fine? ;-)

    Not me.  Ilham Omar was elected to Congress. She hasn’t been caught spying for a foreign Government – in fact I don’t know that any American Muslims have been.  But they’re the ones with suspect loyalty as a group.  See my point?

    • #23
  24. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Not me. Ilham Omar was elected to Congress. She hasn’t been caught spying for a foreign Government – in fact I don’t know that any American Muslims have been. But they’re the ones with suspect loyalty as a group. See my point?

    I do. But I wasn’t necessarily talking about spying–you are. There are other ways to hurt this government besides spying; as I said, allegiance is to sharia, not necessarily to a government. Besides, it may just be that no one has been caught.

    • #24
  25. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    I just think you’re painting with a pretty broad brush.

    I probably am, @randywebster. So let me step back a bit and offer this thought (and not sound like a conspiracy theorist). We most likely have a tiny percentage of Islamists in the US bureaucracy. They are likely not active terrorists, but they are sympathetic to the cause and pose no imminent danger. The fact is, though, there is nothing to be done about their presence in government. We don’t try to control people’s thinking or beliefs. Still, it makes me a bit uneasy. And now we have a person who is blatantly (I believe) anti-Semitic and anti-Israel in the House. It doesn’t make me happy.

    Nor I.

    • #25
  26. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Not me. Ilham Omar was elected to Congress. She hasn’t been caught spying for a foreign Government – in fact I don’t know that any American Muslims have been. But they’re the ones with suspect loyalty as a group. See my point?

    I do. But I wasn’t necessarily talking about spying–you are. There are other ways to hurt this government besides spying; as I said, allegiance is to sharia, not necessarily to a government. Besides, it may just be that no one has been caught.

    You haven’t been caught either Susan.  But assuming it’s just a matter of time because you’re Jewish really would be bigoted.  ?

    • #26
  27. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    Not me. Ilham Omar was elected to Congress. She hasn’t been caught spying for a foreign Government – in fact I don’t know that any American Muslims have been. But they’re the ones with suspect loyalty as a group. See my point?

    I do. But I wasn’t necessarily talking about spying–you are. There are other ways to hurt this government besides spying; as I said, allegiance is to sharia, not necessarily to a government. Besides, it may just be that no one has been caught.

    You haven’t been caught either Susan. But assuming it’s just a matter of time because you’re Jewish really would be bigoted. ?

    I hope this is just poorly worded.

    • #27
  28. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Susan Quinn: I wonder if Ilhan Omar would have been elected if she’d been honest with the electorate.

    See PowerLine for the answer. They have covered her for years, and the entire state level media has acted as her offensive line, blocking any effective attempt to expose the truths about her.

    She is a Jew-hater, almost certainly a bigamist, and connected with the bigamy, likely a federal felon, for immigation fraud.

    • #28
  29. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Assuming guilt because someone is Muslim, Jewish, Christian or Buddhist is succumbing to exactly the same sort of bigoted thinking.  Hope that was clearer.  

    • #29
  30. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Assuming guilt because someone is Muslim, Jewish, Christian or Buddhist is succumbing to exactly the same sort of bigoted thinking. Hope that was clearer.

    You seem to assume that the problem people have with Ilhan Omar is that she’s Muslim. And that other than that, there’s nothing questionable about her.

    Assuming that all Muslims are sweetness and light by nature of their religion is just as bad as assuming they’re all terrorists. And leaping to her defense just because she’s Muslim is as bad as instantly condemning her for the same.

    • #30
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.