Is it antisemitism or basic morality? — Congresswoman Ilhan Abdullahi Omar takes on the American-Zionist establishment

© 2019 Peter Free

 

13 February 2019

 

 

Representative Ilhan Omar has not taken long . . .

 

. . . to irritate Washington DC's typifying scumbaggery gang.

 

Notice first that she is a "woman of color" — (isn't that phrase awful?)

 

And she was born in "shithole" Somalia.

 

Thus, in American Establishment terms, she is:

 

 

a "questionable" brown female

 

who now possesses Congressional credentials

 

which permit her to question the American and Zionist imperialistic authority

 

that has previously gone mostly unchecked.

 

 

OMG, the horror

 

The United States' Zionism-supporting establishment quickly saw a threat to them in this hijab-wearing person:

 

 

After the Muslim Congress member tweeted Sunday night that American political leaders’ support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins" [— meaning $100 USD pieces of American paper money —], a political firestorm broke out over the question of whether the tweet was anti-Semitic.

 

Omar apologized on Monday under pressure from the House Democratic leadership, who issued a unified statement condemning her comments.

 

On Tuesday, President Trump called on her to resign her seat in Congress.

 

© 2019 Zack Beauchamp, Ilhan Omar’s tweet revealed core truths about anti-Semitism in America, Vox (12 February 2019)

 

 

"Antisemitism, for sure!"

 

 

Zack Beauchamp continued in his report, pointing out how careful one should be, when one criticizes behavior that can (or could) be attributed to "Jews":

 

 

[T]he [conspiracy implication of the Benjamins] tweet isn’t true.

 

The US-Israel alliance has deeper and more fundamental roots than just cash, including the legacy of Cold War geopolitics, evangelical theology, and shared strategic interests in counterterrorism.

 

Lobbying certainly plays a role, but to say that “US political leaders” defending Israel is “all” about money is to radically misstate how America’s Israel politics work . . . .

 

 [T]otalizing statements like this play into the most troubling anti-Semitic stereotypes.

 

This . . . draws on longstanding European anti-Semitic traditions that portray Jews as greedy and conniving.

 

After World War II and the creation of the state of Israel, the conspiracy theory shifted. Anti-Semites started using “Zionist” or “Zio” as a stand-in for “Jewish,” using Jewish activism in favor of the Jewish state as proof that they were right all along about the Jewish conspiracy.

 

This is why Omar’s tweet was so troubling, and why the pushback from leadership really was merited.

 

If the line isn’t drawn somewhere, the results for Jews — who still remain a tiny, vulnerable minority — can be devastating.

 

© 2019 Zack Beauchamp, Ilhan Omar’s tweet revealed core truths about anti-Semitism in America, Vox (12 February 2019)

 

 

If we were to implement Mr. Beauchamp's suggestion for exercising caution in language . . .

 

. . . we would overtly recognize that:

 

 

post-Holocaust "Jews" and "Zionists" do not need to be careful in talking about Israeli expansionism and Israel's purported need to control untermensch-like Palestinians —

 

but critics of Israeli behavior do.

 

 

Because, according to Beauchamp, Jews "remain a tiny, vulnerable minority."

 

 

Presumably . . .

 

The logic here is that any vulnerable group gets to oppress any other group that it perceives to be a threat to its regional or world domination.

 

Talk about Hitler's concept of lebensraum living on in his victims.

 

History has an immorally dark sense of humor.

 

 

And — regarding self-servingly corrupted language

 

History's dark irony includes the (alleged Jewish Cabal's) indicative corruption of the word, Semite.

 

According to Merriam-Webster, a Semite is:

 

 

a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs

 

a descendant of these peoples

 

[or]

 

a member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language.

 

 

Thus, a true "antisemite" would be someone who hated all these people, not just Jewish folk.

 

 

The moral? — Self-identified Jewish people — and expansionist Zionists — cannot be called Adam Henrys, even when they are

 

The Holocaust, with which Palestinians and Somalis (for that matter) had nothing to do, has excused property- and life-obliterating Zionists from morality's most basic constraints.

 

Good to know, Zack. I'd hate to be impolitic. Perhaps I'll send AIPAC a Benjamin.

 

And by golly, we'd best make Representative Omar get rid of her hijab. Can't have such a provocative sartorial presentation in such an Israel-toadying American body of governance.