‘Atrocities’ via Twitter isn’t private
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted on June 7: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity . . . We have seen unthinkable atrocities commited by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”
A dozen Jewish Democrats in Congress wrote a public statement, asking Rep. Ilhan Omar to clarify her grouping of Hamas and the Taliban under the same canopy as the US and Israel.
Rep. Omar objected to the question on two grounds: First, she took it as an accusation that she was covering for terrorists, and regarded it as Islamophobic. Second, she complained bitterly that her colleagues in Congress did not reach out to her privately instead of airing their question publicly.
She formulated her first objection this way: “The Islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.”
She formulated her second objection this way: “It’s shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for ‘clarification’ and not just call.”
On this second matter, it might be noted that Rep. Omar says she has 1.2 million Twitter followers. She puts out a statement grouping terrorists with democracies, equating the “atrocity” behavior of both, for 1.2 million people, yet wants a collegial, private phone call in return.There is a metaphor for this: one who lives by the sword dies by the sword. There is a word for this: hypocrisy. There is a denotation in this: The US and Israel are just as devoid of conscience as Hamas and the Taliban.
If anything, her Democratic colleagues in Congress were kind in asking for a “clarification” rather than outright criticizing such unthinkable thinking.
Responding to her colleagues, Rep. Omar said on June 10:
“On Monday [June 7], I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about ongoing International Criminal Court investigations. To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the US and Israel. I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.”
Translation: The public request for “clarification” by her Democratic colleagues in Congress had many desired effects:
It exposed the false moral equivalence that Rep. Omar set forth in her tweet.
It showed Rep. Omar that she cannot broadcast such damaging defamation of the US and Israel to 1.2 million people and expect that it will not trigger a public response.
It showed that she thinks it is right that the International Criminal Court investigate the US and Israel.
It also highlighted and reinforced the unbridled hostility toward Israel that has infected certain sectors of the political class and public opinion.
It highlighted the universal danger in equating terrorists and democracies, given Omar’s characterization of her colleagues’ request for clarification as an “Islamophobic trope.” The only possible location of an “Islamophobic trope” was in Rep. Omar’s own words: “We have seen unthinkable atrocities commited by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” We see no Islamophobic trope there, and certainly not in a request for clarification of these words. But if there is an Islamophobic trope there, it is her own. To her, to engage in false moral equivalencies ends in the defamation of Islam.
Translation: Pulling the “Islamophobic trope” card was just a diversionary tactic, and a counter- productive one at that. A phoney claim of Islamophobia undercuts the seriousness with which real hatred of the religion should be taken.
Similarly, Rep. Omar’s charge that she was harassed and silenced by a request for the clarification of her own words undercuts the real problem of harassment and silencing that the expression of unpopular opinions in 2021 too often elicits.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomed Rep. Omar’s clarification. Rep. Pelosi said:
“Drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the US and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all.
“We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalence between the US and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.”
Isn’t it sad that in the United States of America, this needs to be said? Isn’t it sad that it was said because of the words of a Member of the US Congress?
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
