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Are Reps. Omar and Tlaib pro-Muslim, or anti-Israel?

Test the question. Google it. The result is their dead silence on the massive persecution of Uighur and Rohingya Muslims.

It really boils down to a simple question: Do they just want to damage or destroy Israel, or are they genuinely concerned about Muslims?

Are they anti-Semites, or are they tied to the welfare of fellow Muslims?

Google (as in so much else) will provide the answer.

The “they” referred to here are the two Muslim women recently elected to Congress: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). The evidence on the anti-Israel part of the question is obvious:

Rep. Omar, appointed to the House Foreign Relations Committee, an almost unheard of assignment for a first-term representative, said that AIPAC buys off politicians in order to get them to support Israel. (She later apologized.) She also said that Israel is guilty of “evil doings” for defending itself against rockets fired by Hamas from Gaza on Israeli civilians.

Rep. Tlaib said that pro-Israel Americans “forgot what country they represent” — this, while Tlaib embraces a woman wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

Admittedly a stretch, but if we were to put these statements in their most positive light possible, we would say that the two Muslim congresspeople are overwrought at the difficult circumstances of their fellow Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza. But are they? There is a way to test this. It is somewhat like the control in scientific experiment. Just ask this question: What do Reps. Omar and Tlaib have to say about the two worst cases of persecution of Muslims in the world today?

The first case is the massive violence against the Rohingya Muslims on the border of Myanmar (Burma) — the tortures, the rapes, the murders, the arson. Many regard this as genocide.

The second case is China’s persecution of some three million Turk-speaking, ethnic Uighur Muslims. One million of these hapless human beings are imprisoned in “counter-extremism” centers and two million are relegated to “re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Read: The Uighurs are stripped of their Muslim religion. Throughout the Xinjiang region, where the Uighurs live, Chinese authorities have banned public expressions of Islam, such as beards for men, headscarves for women and halal signs in restaurants and food stores. Access to mosques is restricted; many are shut down. There are checkpoints. Uighurs abroad are by and large unable to communicate with their families in Xinjiang. So reports the Journal.

That’s just what we know. Based on your knowledge of the violence that these communist euphemisms (“re-education,” “indoctrination”) mask, you can fill in the blanks. Not a pretty picture for the fate of the Uighur Muslims, to put it mildly.

What do Reps. Omar and Tlaib have to say about these massive violations of the human rights of millions of Muslims? To find out, we googled six items:

“Rep. Omar’s statements on Uighur Muslims”;

“Rep. Omar’s statements on Rohingya Muslims” [we spelled Ronhingya a couple of different ways];

“Rep. Tlaib’s statements on Uighur Muslims”;

“Rep. Tlaib’s statements on Rohingya Muslims.”

While we were at it, we threw in “Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] statements on Uighur Muslims” and “CAIR statements on the Rohingya Muslims.”

Other than a single chapter of CAIR (in Austin, Texas) whose mosques expressed solidarity with  the Rohingya, the exact same response to our questions turned up for each of the six Google searches: Zero. Nada. Nothing on the topic.

What did turn up was a long list of entries about Rep. Omar’s and Rep. Tlaib’s anti-Israel statements and the attacks on these statements and the defenses of these statements, and all manner of related items about their statements on anti-Semitism, BDS, Palestinians, and so forth and so on. But on the Rohingya and the Uighurs? Nothing.

Separately, Rep. Omar, in explaining her anti-Israel statements and in circumscribing her apologies for them, was at pains to call attention to her Muslim identity and to demand respect for it.

So, is it all about Muslims or is it all about Israel? Do Reps. Omar and Tlaib just want to damage or destroy Israel, or are they genuinely concerned about Muslims? If the latter, why are Reps. Omar and Tlaib (and national CAIR) dead silent on the fate of the Rohingya and Uighur Muslims? Their fate, by any calculus, is far worse than the condition of the Muslims on the West Bank and in Gaza.

Is it the human rights of fellow Muslims that Reps. Omar and Tlaib care about? Or is it just hurting Israel? Their dead silence on the former speaks volumes for the latter.

It should be morally obvious that to defend Israel and to denounce the mass persecution of Muslims are not mutualy exclusive. The right of the Jewish people to its own homeland and the right of all people, including Muslims, to safety and security are but two sides of the same coin of human rights. That is the moral clarity we expect from Reps. Omar and Tlaib.

As to the condition of the Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza, the two representatives can make a signal contribution to the Palestinians’ economic improvement and political freedom by demanding of the Palestinian leaders that they forswear terrorism in theory and practice. No more pay-for slay! The cancellation of this evil policy is the most significant single step forward toward peace.

Copyright © 2019 by the Intermountain Jewish News




2 thoughts on “Are Reps. Omar and Tlaib pro-Muslim, or anti-Israel?

  1. Rob Alexander

    The correct answer to your question is – YES! They and their brethren, for most part, are of the same attitude – that is nothing new. Just as interesting is the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party when e.g. African-American congressmen can declare that “Ms. Omar’s experiences are worse than those of children of Holocaust survivors.
    What is disgusting is the unquestioning adherence of Jewish Democrats in Congress to the party line and their readiness to defend their anti-Semitic members against justified criticism. These Congress people are Jews in name only in order to continue to attract donation from other Jews who are blind and obtuse where the truth about the Democratic Party is concerned.In conclusion they have sold out their heritage and honor for illusionary benefits.

    Reply
  2. Nicolle L

    Not true. It’s just they were talking about this a YEAR ago, not just now (which they still are). And taking actions.

    http://dearcolleague.us/2020/03/stand-up-for-the-human-rights-of-uyghurs-and-other-minorities-in-china/
    (Dear Colleague letters are official correspondence between members of Congress that lawmakers use to gauge or build support or opposition for legislation or other causes.)
    Current Signers: Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Adam Schiff, Ilhan Omar, Patrick Maloney

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6210
    H.R.6210 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (companion bill to Senate’s version S.3471)
    Cosponsors include Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar (among 28 other Democrats and Republicans, Tlaib being one of the original 11 cosponsors)

    https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-omar-leads-letter-ceos-including-apple-amazon-and-google-condemning-use
    Rep. Omar Leads Letter to CEOs, including Apple, Amazon, and Google, Condemning the Use of Forced Uyghur Labor in China
    (letters were signed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib and 4 other Democrats)

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ilhan-omar-we-must-apply-our-universal-values-to-all-nations-only-then-will-we-achieve-peace/2019/03/17/0e2d66fc-4757-11e9-aaf8-4512a6fe3439_story.html
    Washington Post Editorial 17Mar2019

    MULTIPLE tweets from Ilhan Omar over the past YEAR

    Reply

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