Democrat Ilhan Omar Claims She and Rashida Tlaib are Not Antisemites

Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press
Joel B. Pollak

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to deny that she and fellow first-term Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) are antisemites.

Earlier Tuesday, Omar had been asked at a left-wing think tank specifically about antisemitism. She dodged the question.

Omar’s later tweet responded specifically to an op-ed Monday in the left-wing Israel daily newspaper Ha’aretz, titled, “Republicans Spoke Up Against Steve King. Shouldn’t Democrats Speak Up Against Ilhan Omar?”

This author made a similar argument last Friday at Breitbart News, noting that while had Republicans condemned alleged racist language by Iowa’s Rep. Steve King last month, Democrats had not only tolerated Omar’s antisemitic rhetoric, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had also promoted Omar to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar reacted:

Omar did not provide any examples in which she or Tlaib had fought against antisemitism.

However, she and Tlaib have both been accused of using antisemitic rhetoric. Omar tweeted in 2012: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

Omar recently acknowledged that the tweet was offensive to Jews — partly because it refers to myths of Jewish control — but declined to apologize or delete the tweet.

Similarly, Tlaib tweeted last month that pro-Israel Senators “forgot what country they represent,” a statement that was denounced by non-partisan Jewish organizations because of its apparent reference to antisemitic claims of Jewish “dual loyalty.”

As with Omar’s tweet, Tlaib’s also evoked myths of Jewish control, and remains live.

Omar supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — despite telling voters during the election that she did not support it. Critics allege that BDS is antisemitic because it singles out Israel while ignoring Palestinian terror and human rights abuses by other countries.

Tlaib is opposed to Israel’s very existence. Recently, the Daily Caller reported that Tlaib belonged to a Facebook group where antisemitic messages were exchanged, and that one of her prominent fundraisers and volunteers is an open antisemite.

The phrase “no justice, no peace” to which Omar referred in her tweet is a slogan frequently chanted at anti-Israel rallies, supporting Palestinians’ refusal to accept peace negotiations until they receive “justice” — which, to many, means not only removing Israeli settlements from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) but also ending Israel itself.
Both Omar and Tlaib also hold radical views on other foreign policy issues. Omar, for example, has defended Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, and argued in 2013 that terrorism is a reaction to U.S. foreign policy.

Omar and Tlaib also happen to be the first Muslim women in Congress — a fact to which they often attribute the criticism that has greeted their radical policies, their opposition to Israel, and their use of antisemitic rhetoric.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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