Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is again accused of tweeting an anti-Semitic slur, this time over Michael Bloomberg’s re-entry into the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Saturday afternoon, Fox News reports, Omar tweeted about billionaire Leon Cooperman, who announced late Friday that he would put financial support behind Bloomberg’s 2020 run, in order to keep Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) from receiving the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I wonder why,” Omar noted, adding a “thinking face” emoji.
I wonder why? 🤔 https://t.co/fc2wx26oTA
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 9, 2019
Cooperman and Bloomberg are both Jewish, and, accordingly, it didn’t take long for social media to get Omar’s drift.
“I suppose you think it’s all about the Benjamins,” Michael Dickson, the executive director of Stand with Us, “a group that fights anti-Semitism,” according to Fox, tweeted in response. “We get your insinuation. True to form.”
I suppose you think it’s all about the Benjamins? We get your insinuation. True to form. https://t.co/dynXq6HqXN
— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) November 9, 2019
Omar, of course, has a history of making anti-Semitic remarks, including that she believed her Congressional colleagues’ support for Israel was being bankrolled by the Middle Eastern nation. She followed that comment up with another about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, accusing the group of purchasing Republican support for Israel.
Although Omar was roundly condemned for her statement — even by typically gun-shy Democrats in Congress — she refused to curb her overt anti-Semitism and, just weeks later, bashed “powerful lobbying groups” for Israel in a private event with Washington, D.C., progressives.
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policies?” she said.
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) initially wanted to condemn Omar for her remarks, but cowered in the face of progressive outrage, and turned a planned official rebuke into a toothless statement of condemnation of “hatred” in all its forms, including, ostensibly, anti-Semitism.
Omar and her colleague Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has also been accused of anti-Semitism, both generally and toward her Congressional colleagues, whom she’s accused of having “dual loyalty,” per an age-old anti-Semitic smear, followed up that incident by planning a “tour” of Israel. Of course, the pair planned the trip in partnership with an organization called Miftah, National Review reports, a “a nonprofit organization headed by Palestinian lawmaker and longtime peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi.”
Unsurprisingly, the organization itself is anti-Semitic, and has even gone so far as to participate in “blood libel” — accusing Jews of using the blood of Palestinians in their Passover feasts — in their official materials.
Omar’s supporters claim Saturday’s tweet was merely an observation of how billionaire Wall Street-banker types stick together, and that Omar’s opponents are reading too much into her commentary, claiming that Omar’s critics are “obsessed with every word Ilhan says or tweets.”
Of course, that support came from fellow accused anti-Semite, former Women’s March leader, Linda Sarsour.
“Oh for God’s sake, stop this ridiculousness,” Sarsour wrote on Twitter. “This obsession with every word Ilhan says or tweets is tired and it’s getting old.”
Oh for God’s sake, stop this ridiculousness. This obsession with every word Ilhan says or tweets is tired and it’s getting old. https://t.co/TRhwHoJW7d
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) November 9, 2019
Omar’s critics responded that it’s fairly clear what Omar meant, and that she simply can’t hide her animus.
“Omar very carefully making an anti-Semitic tweet with just enough vagueness to claim that ackshually she meant it was about the benjamins and not about religion,” Josh Jordan snapped back. “But everyone knows what she meant, which is why she continues to do it.”
“Ilhan Omar doesn’t tweet alone. She has a media team who’s job is to prevent her from saying offensive things,” another Jewish activist added. “Either she can’t find anyone that is knowledgeable about Antisemitic dogwhistles, despite Jews begging her to educate herself, or that they know what she says hurts us.”
Another pointed out that the reason “dog-whistles” are called “dog-whistles” is because the sentiment is buried.
“There is no effort to twist anything and you know this,” Twitter user Michael Elgort added, per Fox. “Dogwhistles are called like that on purpose and have meaning behind it. At the same time there are news on Bezos who chatted with Bloomberg, but she picks another billionaire who happens to be Jewish.”