What’s In A Name

Rep. Ilhan Omar keeps talking about Israel having undue influence in American politics, and people keep ripping her for it, calling her anti-Semitic.
I don’t like it.  Name-calling is a silencing tactic of the Left.  Whether you are branded as a homophobe, sexist, denier or anti-Semitic doesn’t matter: they’re all variations on “hater” and the Left won’t listen to haters, no matter what they have to say.  People on the Right should not use that tactic. We should be able to defend our position with logic and reason.
Anti-Semitic means prejudiced against Jews. One need not harbor religious prejudice to ask why it’s in the best interest of the United States to support a nation, whether it’s Vatican City, Somalia, or Israel.  The best foreign policy advice was given by Washington and Jefferson – honest friendship and commerce with all, entangling alliances with none.  Religion shouldn’t enter into it at all, on either side, for or against.
I’m not saying Rep. Omar is right that Israel has too much influence on American foreign policy.  But I am saying she’s not wrong to ask whether it does, and calling her names to silence her is an indication that the name-callers don’t think they can defend our Israel policy in an honest debate.  That’s the most troubling aspect of all.

I agree with Joe about the name-calling – but, all due respect, I believe it’s possible to both have a rational debate about Israel point out the Democrat party has a bit of an antisemitism problem.

21 thoughts on “What’s In A Name

  1. I basically agree with you, JD.

    Omar just needs to engage her apparently pea sized brain, before she opens her mouth.

  2. We had a go round on this from ‘Doakes’ in a March 7 post here.

    Yeah, all things being equal the thought exercise of why we support Israel is not invalid. But there’s a couple dozen easy answers to the question, and Ilhan is not credible / persuasive as a public intellectual in arguing the contrarian view. Walks like a duck… she’s an anti-semite.

  3. We might do well to understand what we’re actually doing; we’re not slandering Ms. Omar, as the leftist pattern of name-calling tends to be, but rather we’re inferring what categories she falls into from her rhetoric and drawing attention to that. It can be hard to discern, but there is a very real difference here.

    And in this case, when she’s using the same phrases that anti-Semites have used to advocate for discrimination against Jews for, say, the past 800 years, if the shoe fits….

  4. ^ For the purposes of this discussion, I’m not saying she’s pretty dumb… though she might be.

    What’s true certainly is she lacks the skills and capabilities a more traditional, institutional candidate would have, but that the voters of CD5 elected her as a virtue signal to themselves cuz diversity. And that she’s otherwise normatively unqualified to hold the job as far as it goes.

    So this is the way its going to be.

  5. […] but that the voters of CD5 elected her as a virtue signal to themselves cuz diversity.

    Some of that, some of racial/group solidarity. More of the later. It’ll make town halls in CD5 pretty uncomfortable if she ever holds one.

    She could have presented an anti-Israel rant without showing antisemitism, a la Pelosi. She didn’t, even after being called on her rants. You can either believe that she’s less than intelligent and unteachable, or that she’s hardcore antisemitic. Take your pick, but neither is a good look for our politics.

  6. ^ Yesterday I read in a credible news report – I think it was the washpo story on the Ilhan caused ‘anxiety in the district’ – that mpls is 65% white, or at least the part that votes. Her election was not a matter of coalition politics, it was the typical white DFL voter in the city wanting to signal its virtue in voting for a diverse candidate.

  7. Anti-Semitic means prejudiced against Jews.

    And calling into question Jewish loyalty to the country they live in verses Israel is a classic anti-semitic tactic since Israel was created in 1947 Joe. Again its not just the right but even fellow Democrats and even the ADL (no right wing organization) has called her out. Plus just the overall fact that worldwide, Muslim communities seem to be ripe with anti-semitism, I guess when your holy book calls Jews pigs and scum of the Earth that will tend to happen.

  8. POD, since 1948 for Israel, no? But really, suggesting that Jews have dual loyalties is a tactic that dates back to the Middle Ages and is in part responsible for thousands of pogroms over the years. Nobody with a political science degree should be unaware of this, nor should an ethnic minority fail to figure out that legitimizing this tactic could work out really, really badly for them.

    She is, like so many other Democrats, endorsing things that could clobber her own relatives and friends,presumably under the assumption that either her allies will be in charge, or that her opponents will not use the programs she endorses against her. Scary, scary, scary.

  9. It is interesting to me that several of the more prominent Somali-American public figures in her district are also criticising both her words and the sentiment behind them. Not just “hey, don’t give the game away” but an actual “she is wrong”.

  10. The thing is, the Democrats really for some time, have been a bit short on supporting Israel in a general sense, wasn’t it their last convention where their platform was going to not support Israel and it was struck down, something like that. Exceptions exist, Sen. Menendez, NJ for example is a big supporter of Israel, foreign policy, I usually agree with him, domestically, totally unsatisfactory..

    So, speaking of Menendez like Rubio, if the topic is say, Cuba of which they have heritage, do they have dual loyalties? Do I have dual loyalties with Poland for example per my heritage? I certainly like to see them get a fair shake.

  11. ^ Maybe not…. She went to NDSU. I have a polsci minor and almost a polsci major from an outstate state school that’s perhaps as quality as NDSU. You spend most of your time in polsci undergrad learning the construction of government. The idea of dual loyalty as it pertains to Jews and Israel is not taught in state university polsci, its a higher level concept that is maybe explored at the better schools and the opinion journals.

    But if she had meaningful experience in institutional party politics, she probably would have learned it b.y now.

  12. BB,

    Frankly I dont know if shell even get endorsed next time around in CD5, much less win a primary. I dont think even Leftists in 5 will tolerate this, not because of her views, but because she is too public and obvious about it, like AOC. The concept of being subtle about anything is ;lost on these new progressives.

  13. Also while I dont have a poly sci degree my personal thoughts on pograms in the middle ages was this…

    Have a bad crop season.. BLAME THE JOOOS

    People dying of disease… BLAME THE JOOS

    Economic downturn… BLAME THE JOOOOS

    you get the point.

  14. On a somewhat related topic, I noticed that lying trust funder, Mr. Everyone’s Invited, is already doing his best to be seen supporting hard left policies. Dean Philips was embracing Nitwit Nancy as she announced the disastrous HR 1 bill.

  15. Phillips is not a ‘fortunate son’ such that his dad wasn’t. His dad was killed in Vietnam.

  16. JK,

    Yes, I was aware of his father, but he’s still heir to the Phillips family fortune. They’ve been around since 1912. That money funded his business ventures, too, so he is privileged.

  17. Phillipd *should* be a one term wonder. That is if the MNGOP in CD3 can recruit someone decent in 2020. I have a few idea myself but I have no say and live in CD5 at the moment.

  18. ^ I’m not in his district, I’m in McCollum’s. Boy would I rather have him than her. Yes, he’s rich and privileged, but seems reasonably authentic in ways.

  19. Actually, John, I’m unfortunately in his district and he’s already proven himself to be a liar and a fraud. When he and Angie Craig, who replaced the very effective Jason Lewis, their promises to be independent voices for Minnesota, was quashed by the senior party apparatchiks. They are now just more droogs in the Democrat’s socialist army.

  20. JK – I’m in Betty’s district, too. Is she still alive? Honestly, I didn’t see one ad for her last year, no newsletter, no public appearances. She gets re-elected so routinely that it would not surprise me to learn she’s actually dead, the Democrats forgot to mention it, and the Republicans didn’t notice.

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