Well thank goodness House Republicans have bounced Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. They've now had their ethnic and ideological cleansing, as well as their revenge against Democrats for having bounced Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees for "her history of trafficking in racism, anti-Semitism and baseless conspiracy theories" and her online support for whacking Democratic politicians. Also Paul Gosar, for posting "humorous" videos about assassinating a fellow House member.
The dumbest thing Rep. Omar ever said about Israel came in 2019, when she implied that "money" underlay support for it. That claptrap fed into American antisemitism that stretches back to the late 19th century — especially within the South and West's agrarian Populist movement — often through coded words about "Wall Street financiers." The hayseeds were more graphically bigoted in their language, which later fed into the 20th-century's Ku Klux Klannery.
In Jun 2021, Omar tweeted what critics saw as her most egregiously offensive remark: "We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity," she wrote.
That's when things really blew up. But ... why? — other than that such a charge, aimed at the Israeli government's — not Jews' — apartheid policy is too often conflated with antisemitism. The aforementioned government has committed atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Omar clarified: "To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those [International Criminal Court] cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the US and Israel. I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems."
In a CNN interview, Omar added, "I've welcomed, you know, anytime my colleagues have asked to have a conversation, to learn from them, for them to learn from me. I think it's really important for these members to realize that they haven't been partners in justice. They haven't been, you know, equally engaging in seeking justice around the world."
Even the US State Department would agree with that assessment. But AIPAC has a firm hold on the tongues of many a Democratic congressperson. That's just a fact.
In a rare AOC tweet with which I can agree, she wrote: "Pretty sick & tired of the constant vilification, intentional mischaracterization, and public targeting of @IlhanMN coming from our caucus."
Nancy Pelosi — House Democrats' den mother who always had to settle internal the children's disputes — wrote in a joint leadership statement: "We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the US and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban."
There once was, however, a Republican president who believed there's a moral equivalency between the US and the murderous, fascistic Vladimir Putin's Russian Federation. Said Donald Trump in 2017, when asked on Fox News about his "respect" for the bloodthirsty autocrat — whom the network host called a "killer" — Trump replied: "There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers. Well, you think our country is so innocent?"
No Republican congressperson, in my memory, publicly objected to Trump's remark. Trump had put the United States on the same moral level as that not only of Russia's Putin, but of Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman, killer of American journalists.
At least for now, the republic is safe from the Donald's antiAmerican ravings. Yet House Republicans have again shown their heroic support for Trumplike free speech; they have liberated Rep. Greene to spout conspiracy theories about Jewish space lasers from committee seats, and Rep. Gosar can return to his really funny bits about killing Democratic congresswomen. Only a truly vicious voice has been silenced.
Vhat a country! What a House.
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I get why people focus on the racism, sexism + Islamophobia underlying Omar's removal. But if she were a Black Muslim woman who turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the US + its allies, she'd stay on the committee. She's being punished for supporting human rights https://t.co/oxZLxOXjxL
— Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) February 2, 2023