On Monday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) “unequivocally apologized” for making an anti-Semitic remark about why members of Congress support Israel. But then she equivocated immediately, blaming the “problematic role of lobbyists in politics” for her bigoted statement.
Ironically, Rep. Omar is reportedly associated with some of the most vile and underhanded lobbyists in the business, and has accepted support from openly anti-Israel organizations with ties to worldwide terrorist networks and violent jihadist movements.
All about the Benjamins
The controversy over Omar began on Sunday, when the freshman representative referenced a painful anti-Semitic trope on Twitter, suggesting that her colleagues in Congress refuse to criticize Israel because of money. “It’s all about the Benjamins,” she wrote, referring to $100 bills.
It’s all about the Benjamins baby 🎶 https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019
The backlash was swift and bipartisan, prompting Omar to issue an immediate apology. Feigning ignorance, the Minnesota congresswoman wrote that she was “grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
Ultimately, Omar’s unequivocal apology came with a qualifier: she still believes there is a problem with Jewish money in politics, and she mentioned the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as the source of that problem.
Evil AIPAC
AIPAC is a profoundly bipartisan Jewish lobbying organization that has openly declared its support for a two-state solution in Israel. The group refuses to endorse both Israeli and American political candidates, inviting both far-left and ultra-right personalities to its lectures and conferences.
At its core, AIPAC’s mission is to educate policy-makers about the foreign and domestic threats which Israel faces, such as the 4,600 rockets that targeted Israeli citizens in 2014.
“Israel needs that $3.7 billion a year to defend itself, and that aid is hardly assured forever,” explained Jackie Headapohl, a Democrat who supports AIPAC. “Every two years, AIPAC must educate and persuade a new class of Congress members to support Israel, many of whom have little knowledge or affinity for the Jewish state and often with a constituency that wouldn’t think twice to eliminate all aid to Israel.”
Islamist money in politics
If AIPAC’s goal is to preserve Israel’s survival, the lobbyist groups allied with Omar are concerned with the Jewish state’s destruction. In fact, just last week, Omar retweeted a statement of support from the openly anti-Semitic Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
Although MPAC’s website describes its lobbying efforts as “advocacy campaigns” on a broad range of issues, such as foreign policy and civil rights, the organization’s implicit mission is to whip up hatred for the state of Israel. In a 2012 National Review article profiling MPAC, former terrorism prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted that the group was founded in 1988 “by followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and admirers of Hezbollah.”
McCarthy said that MPAC President Salam al-Marayati has “spoken sympathetically of violent jihad” on several occasions, and even blamed the Sept. 11 attacks on Israel.
In 2008, MPAC Chairman Asghar Bukhari openly called for jihad against Israeli Jews on Facebook, writing: “Muslims who fight against the occupation of their lands are ‘Mujahadeen’ and are blessed by Allah. And any Muslim who fights against Israel and dies is a martyr and will be granted paradise.” Bukhari concluded his rant by accusing “Zionists” of possessing “a crooked mind plotting and planning to extend their hatred against us.”
Ties to terror
While Omar swore off corporate lobbyists during her 2018 congressional campaign, that hasn’t kept the Somali-American from taking over $100,000 from ideological political action committees (PACs) like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s California-based PAC, despite the Muslim civil rights and advocacy group’s well-documented ties to terrorist groups and anti-Semites.
Indeed, the FBI cut ties with CAIR in 2009 over its support for the radical terrorist group Hamas, and in 2008, CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in a massive terrorism financing trial. When the civil rights group petitioned a court to overturn that designation a year later, a judge found that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” CAIR’s ties to Hamas, a militant jihadist group which publicly vies for the destruction of Israel.
But Omar’s partnership with CAIR makes sense given how many senior members have been exposed for harboring anti-Semitic views and propagating anti-Israeli hatred. For instance, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, wrote on Nov. 25 that the Middle East would be “better off” if Israel were “terminated.” Just days later, CAIR-San Francisco director Zahra Billoo echoed her colleague’s hatred, writing, “I am not going to legitimize a country that I don’t believe has a right to exist.”
Omar isn’t genuinely concerned with taking money out of politics; the first Somali-American congresswoman has been the beneficiary of thousands of dollars from Islamist donors. Rather, Omar is deeply offended by Israeli money in politics — because without it, she understands that her Palestinian cohorts can liquidate the Israeli presence in the Levant from the river to the sea.
No comments: