General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIlhan Omar Is a Threat to US Empire
snip...
The connections between US imperialism and Zionism should be obvious to anyone paying attention, but it needs to be emphasized at moments like this when progressives (especially Muslim progressives) like Omar are being attacked with outrageous claims of Jew-hatred. The fact is, this latest episode has very little to do with antisemitism. The Israeli government is a significant booster of antisemitic governments and movements in Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, and the United States (and its relationship with Jair Bolsonaros new government in Brazil flirts with antisemitic strands as well).
This history goes back at least a half century: Israel has often been happy to join the United States in backing antisemitic governments and movements across the world, specifically in Latin America, provided it fulfilled their settler-colonial or imperialist aims. During my AIPAC years, I watched from the inside as Americas most powerful pro-Israel organization hobnobbed and glad-handed numerous elements, especially segments of the Christian right, that were actively or passively complicit in antisemitic politics and networks.
snip...
People like Omar are not being repeatedly (and most likely systematically) targeted because they are antisemitic. Theyre not even being targeted because theyre critical of Israel per se. Theyre being targeted because they challenge an eighty-years-long bipartisan imperialist consensus that is finally showing signs of fraying. The goal is to prevent the very kind of subversive moments Omar elicited last week during her questioning of unrepentant war criminal Elliot Abrams moments that, if they added up, would have a real shot at finally moving us toward a vision of America beyond empire.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/02/ilhan-omar-aipac-israel-us-empire
Rep. Omar is facing a coordinated backlash by an entrenched and powerful lobby. The charge of anti-semitism is a convenient and effective way of trying to shut her down.
cross-posted from my thread over in Editorials:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016227693
trev
(1,480 posts)about Islamic terrorism during the Bush years, and the right-wing fanning of the flames of anti-Muslim rhetoric, it is hardly surprising that Omar is under fire.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)are still in the WH and government. Matter of fact, majority in the GOP congress, administration and WH are Anti-Semitic and for some reason the AIPAC's can not see it.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)I'd rather see the collective wrath of AIPAC focus on the GOP rather than a freshman Democrat.
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)tritsofme
(17,320 posts)It is quite obvious what she is doing with her giant dog whistle.
I am very much looking forward to contributing to her primary challenger next year.
wellst0nev0ter
(7,509 posts)AIPAC directs campaign donations to politicians. They even have a fucking webpage specifically for that purpose:
https://www.aipac.org/act/congressional-club
And Operation Pillar of Defense (what Omar's "hypnotized the world" tweet was about) had a civilian kill ratio of 27 to 1 against the Palestinians according to the UN, yet the conflict was cast in a sympathetic light for Israel thanks to the usual roster of spin doctors.