Ilhan Omar is right about the influence of the Israel lobby GUARDIAN

Last edited Wed Feb 13, 2019, 01:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Ilhan Omar is right about the influence of the Israel lobby Alex Kotch

Following the Ilhan Omar controversy, it’s incredibly important to be able to decipher between real antisemitism and basic political facts. ‘Labeling anyone who speaks of Jews and money in the same sentence an anti-Semite weakens our fight against the real antisemitic, neo-Nazi, and other white nationalist forces’ . It’s important to remember how the controversy around Ilhan Omar, who Trump said should resign over tweets critical of a pro-Israel lobbying group, began. The first two Muslim congresswomen in the history of the United States – Ilhan Omar, a freshman representative from Minnesota and Somali refugee, and her fellow freshman representative Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American – have bravely criticized the Israeli government for its grotesque treatment of the Palestinian people.

Acknowledging this apartheid system is a dangerous thing for American elected officials to do. Just in 2016, when presidential candidate Bernie Sanders dared to say that “We are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity” it became a major media event. Omar and Tlaib endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian-led movement to pressure Israel to change course on Palestine. Opponents have dishonestly cast it as inherently antisemitic.

The furor over BDS has led more than half of US states to pass laws attacking BDS. These laws clearly trample on the constitutional right to free speech and expression, but that didn’t stop the US Senate from passing the very first piece of legislation this session, which forbids Congress from pre-empting such state laws. So by supporting a justice movement for Palestinians, Omar and Tlaib have opened themselves up to a torrent of attacks from liberals, centrists and the right. The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, took these attacks one step further, threatening to punish the two representatives if Democratic party leaders failed to do so. Omar responded to McCarthy’s threat by quoting the title of a popular song, “It’s all about the Benjamins,” on Sunday night. When the opinion editor of the Forward, Batya Ungar Sargon, questioned who Omar might think is paying members of Congress to unflinchingly support Israel, Omar tweeted, “AIPAC!”


Then the real tsunami began. Omar was immediately labeled an antisemite. By early afternoon on Monday, Democratic leaders – who sunk a proposal to censure the nine-term, openly white supremacist representative Steve King just weeks earlier – had called on Omar to apologize, which she did promptly. Evil people have used the hateful conspiracy theory, that Jews use their money to secretly control politicians and the media, to commit atrocities against Jewish people for many centuries. Everyone, especially politicians, should know and acknowledge this. But in doing so, it’s incredibly important to be able to distinguish between real antisemitism and basic political facts. We need to be able to examine the money and influence in politics that every special-interest group, including pro-Israel lobbying groups such as Aipac, wields. Often, because of their ability to pay for costly lobbyists and fund political campaigns, these special interests drown out the voices of everyday Americans. As a result, members of Congress are way out of touch with the views of their own constituents. Omar’s controversial tweets noted two important realities. First, money is a huge problem, and motivator, in Washington. Second, Aipac is a powerful group that uses its money to influence the policy decisions of members of Congress. As both Mehdi Hasan and Ryan Grim detail in the Intercept, Aipac officials have bragged about their power over Washington lawmakers. much more at link....

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/13/ilhan-omar-is-right-about-the-influence-of-the-israel-lobby?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVUy0xOTAyMTM%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&CMP=GTUS_email