Republicans have realized that Israel is a topic that can divide Democrats, so they’ve worked hard to make it impossible to criticize Israel without being called an anti-semite. And Democrats, who are the ones who actually care about Israel for more than a talking point, are enabling that behavior.
It sucks, because Israel does plenty of stuff to be ashamed of (and I say that as a Jew), so not being able to talk about it limits our ability to make change.
It is totally possible to criticize the things Israel does while still loving Israel and supporting them. But it’s currently not politically viable.
This, absolutely. And those groups are going to push back hard.
All that said, I wish Omar had chosen a less snarky way to phrase it. “It’s all about the benjamins” can be interpreted as “Jews use their money to control the world,” instead of a comment about the influence of big money on our politics.
I mean, she did later. And I would guess about 70% of people would have recognized that as a rap lyric, and not some weird allusion to jews and money. That is a bit of a leap, and one of those things that make me think people are racist for pointing that out. Like… it is a p-diddy lyric. That was the first thing that came to my mind.
70% of Americans will recognize a rap lyric? :) Even then, it’s a snarky take that can be easily misinterpreted. You have to be careful about racial stereotypes, and “jews control everything with their money” has an ugly history.
If you’re a Republican, you never have to apologize. Just the way it is.
…
Someone should give this article to Klobuchar and Booker.
Mitch McConnell boasted that he pressured Republicans to refuse to compromise with any of the Obama administration’s priorities in his first two years (“We worked very hard to keep our fingerprints off of these proposals. Because we thought — correctly, I think — that the only way the American people would know that a great debate was going on was if the measures were not bipartisan.”).
Yet after Republicans won control of Congress on the shoulders of a tea party wave of debt hysteria in 2010, a conventional wisdom took hold that President Obama needed to get Republicans to make a deal. Most outside observers conceded that the congressional GOP might not be the easiest negotiating counterparty. Still, Obama was widely held to bear a share of the blame for his inability to get Republicans to make a deal. He didn’t play enough golf with them, or drink enough with them, or “lead.” The idea that Obama could and should force Republicans to make deals with him was pure conventional wisdom for years on end.
I talked with a friend and office-mate about Omar’s comments. He is a devout, practicing Jew who is extremely pro-Israel (as you might expect)
I too was confused at why the tweets were considered anti-semitic, and wanted him to shed some light on what I was missing.
He read and thought everything over, but ultimately didn’t see any reason why that should be considered anti-semitic… so I personally remain perplexed by all the hoopla.
Because nobody speaks for everyone else in their demographic. If you can’t understand how people interpret something differently than you do, it may be you’re not working very hard at it ;)
Support for the fascist Israeli regime comes in America from Jews who have bought the fear propaganda coming partly from the GOP (ironically considering their simultaneous support of white supremacists) and partly from certain synagogues (mostly but not all Orthodox). These people feel like their identity is under existential threat from hordes of slavering subhuman monsters who the Israelis are justified in persecuting and murdering, because it’s not murder to kill a monster.
It’s a real triumph for the Israeli Conservatives that they’ve achieved this propaganda victory in both the US and the UK. They’ve managed somehow to convince many otherwise nonpartisan (as regards Israeli politics) organizations that criticizing the Israeli government is antisemitic.
In this particular case, there was a suggestion of cui bono from Omar with the remark “it’s all about the benjamins” which of course in itself has nothing to do with Jews. But the pro-Netanyahu propagandists seized eagerly on the remark to say that it was antisemitic due to the old slur on Jews preferring money to virtue.
What Omar said in response to Greenwald’s tweet was right up to the line. It was also wrong - Israeli influence in American politics isn’t really about the Benjamins at all. Sure they have well funded lobbyists, but I think we all understand that’s basically table stakes in modern US politics. There are historical and profound cultural links that are much more important. If it was “all about the Benjamins” then the US would back Israel’s rivals who have much more cash to spend on such things.
I’m happy with the apology. (And yeah, big contrast with the GOP’s behaviour on this kind of thing) There are plenty of ways to criticise Israel without resorting to the “Israel controls everything with money” trope. I look forward to seeing those critiques from Congresswoman Omar.
It has something to do with Israel when a comment about disproportionate Israeli influence in US politics is embedded as part of your tweet.
