A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes:

The memoir offers breathing room for Omar, who has been the target of racist attacks and whose history-making tenure in Congress has been marked by disputes with colleagues, especially over their support for Israel, in the claustrophobic confines of Twitter threads. Her efforts to deter further outrage are evident throughout the book, which barely touches topics that have inflamed her critics… But, with unrepentant recollections of schoolyard brawls with bullies, Omar bolsters her image as a scrapper constitutionally incapable of backing down. “Fighting didn’t feel like a choice,” she writes. “It was a part of me.”

Yet Omar supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. As CAMERA has noted, “BDS seeks the end of the Jewish state, singles out Israel for opprobrium, has been declared antisemitic by various legislative bodies, and is endorsed by terrorist organizations like Hamas.”

Ilhan Omar’s problems with Jews and Israel

• In July 2020, an Omar campaign mailer accused her congressional opponent of being “in the pocket of Wall Street” and mentions three Jewish donors by name. The mailer references only the three donors, plus “Michael, a donor from Scarsdale, New York.” This echoes the anti-Semitic trope that Jews exercise excessive political influence through use of outsize wealth.

• In February 2019, Omar employed the anti-Semitic dual loyalty trope while referring to American Jewish supporters of Israel: “[There is] the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

• In February 2019 Omar tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!” in response to a report about AIPAC, a pro-Israel organization. Omar’s tweet echoed a longstanding anti-Semitic trope — the implication that Jewish political influence operates entirely (“all about”) through money as well as the implication that Jews exercise undue political influence. The tweet refers to the fact that a representation of Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill, the largest U.S. dollar bill in circulation.

• In March 2019 Omar stated: “some people [who] did something” — in describing the Islamist terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.

• In a November 2012 tweet, Omar accused Israel of “hypnotizing the world,” while insinuating that her fellow lawmakers are purchased by Jewish money, and that the Jewish Americans among them have dual loyalties. Her comments meet the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, used by the U.S. State Department and others.

The Times, of course, has had its problems with Jews and Israel as has been chronicled by CAMERA since 1992. A recent example involves the Times repeatedly turning to the radical Peter Beinart’s advocacy for dissolving the Jewish state.

Another recent example involves the newspaper’s erroneous claim that that there had been a “longstanding American policy treating the settlements as illegal,” which remained in place until Secretary of State Pompeo announced a reversal in 2019. The newspaper is aware of the error but has refused to correct or put forward a defense for its claim.

Perhaps particularly shameful is the newspaper’s record during the early to middle part of the previous century when it buried news about the Holocaust.

It should not come as a surprise that the New York Times glosses over Ilhan Omar’s problems with Jews and Israel.

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN.

 

MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 pm EST with Omar (screenshot above left).

MSNBC’s The Reidout with Joy Reid for July 24, 2020 provided a 15-minute conversation at 7:18 pm EST with Omar (screenshot above right).

C-SPAN’s BookTV program aired on July 26, 2020 a 35-minute conversation between host Peter Slen and Omar about her book, “This Is What America Looks Like” dealing with “her journey from Somalia as a refugee to becoming one of the first Muslim women elected to the U.S. Congress.”

These interviews provided Omar with valuable public exposure during an election season, but they failed to note her history of antisemitism.

Ilhan Omar’s problem with Jews and Israel

• In July 2020, an Omar campaign mailer accused her congressional opponent of being “in the pocket of Wall Street” and mentions three Jewish donors by name. The mailer references only the three donors, plus “Michael, a donor from Scarsdale, New York.” This echoes the anti-Semitic trope that Jews exercise excessive political influence through use of outsize wealth.

• In February 2019, Omar employed the anti-Semitic dual loyalty trope while referring to American Jewish supporters of Israel: “[There is] the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

• In February 2019 Omar tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!” in response to a report about AIPAC, a pro-Israel organization. Omar’s tweet echoed a longstanding anti-Semitic trope — the implication that Jewish political influence operates entirely (“all about”) through money as well as the implication that Jews exercise undue political influence. The tweet refers to the fact that a representation of Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill, the largest U.S. dollar bill in circulation.

• In March 2019 Omar stated: “some people [who] did something” — in describing the Islamist terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.

• In a November 2012 tweet, Omar accused Israel of “hypnotizing the world,” while insinuating that her fellow lawmakers are purchased by Jewish money, and that the Jewish Americans among them have dual loyalties. Her comments meet the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, used by the U.S. State Department and others.

Is there any other prominent ethnic/religious/national group that would be so egregiously overlooked or slighted as in these interviews on MSNBC or C-SPAN or, for that matter, any other major network?

WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the television station as “Director of Public Affairs and Community Services as well as host and executive producer of CityLine, WCVB’s award-winning weekly magazine program which addresses the accomplishments, concerns and issues facing people of color living in Boston and its suburbs.”

Curiously, WCVB deemed the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder an opportune moment to re-air a CityLine broadcast about the negative reaction to Member of Congress Ilhan Omar’s comments that were widely condemned as antisemitic.

The broadcast

The May 31, 2020 CityLine, focusing on the Boston area Muslim community, featured an interview with John Robbins, the executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of CAIR, designated an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal conspiracy to help fund Hamas.

Ward, noting that Ilhan Omar’s comments led to a U.S. House of Representatives resolution condemning antisemitism and other forms of hate, asked Robbins about his view that Islamophobia, rather than the nature of Omar’s remarks, were driving criticism of Omar’s comments that were akin to classic antisemitic propaganda. “That’s in the pot along with anti-black racism,” responded CAIR’s Robbins, apparently understanding that linking Omar’s critics with anti-black racists demonizes them yet more.

Ward asked, “Do you feel politicians on both sides are treating her [Omar] harsher because she is Muslim?” “Over and over again,” answered Robbins.

Ward pointed out that Omar’s words are thought to denigrate the Jewish community, but even this, she suggests, is a solely Jewish-centric view, turning to Robbins to confirm that “in the larger world” Omar’s views are not necessarily considered antisemitic. She asks: “In fairness to the Jewish community, many feel her comments were inappropriate. How are her comments being interpreted to the larger world?”

“She [Omar] apologized for anyone offended by that … [but] the idea is that anybody should be able to freely criticize any individual lobbying organization in the U.S.,” argued Robbins, adding, “Our hope is that this could be a breakthrough moment in which American Muslims can feel open to discuss any issues without taboo affecting our community, especially those in the Palestinian community who have felt they have not been able to discuss important issues.”

But what’s the evidence that Palestinians and other Muslims have fear, or reason to fear, to openly state their views on important issues? The host fails to ask. Meanwhile, viewers were left in the dark about what CAIR and Ilhan Omar are really all about.

• In a November 2012 tweet, Omar accused Israel of “hypnotizing the world,” while insinuating that her fellow lawmakers are purchased by Jewish money, and that the Jewish Americans among them have dual loyalties. Her comments meet the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, used by the U.S. State Department and others.

• In February 2019, Omar voiced the antisemitic dual loyalty trope while referring to American Jewish supporters of Israel, “[There is] the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

• In February 2019 Omar tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!” in response to a report about AIPAC, a pro-Israel organization. Omar’s tweet echoed a longstanding antisemitic trope — in particular, the implication that Jewish political influence operates entirely (“all about”) through money. The tweet refers to the fact that a representation of Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill, the largest U.S. dollar bill in circulation.

• In March 2019 Omar stated “some people [who] did something” — in describing the Islamist terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.

Why at this time of racial unrest including sometimes violent protests, would a Boston TV station rebroadcast a segment in which a disreputable source accuses critics of antisemitism of being racists?

WCVB viewers deserve better.

Fareed Zakaria and Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister of Israel (June 21 broadcast)

In the teaser at the beginning of his June 21 show “Global Public Square” (GPS), Zakaria drew this unwarranted, likely agenda-driven conclusion:

Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said if he was put back in office, he would annex parts of the West Bank. That dramatic act could happen just days from now. I will talk to Netanyahu’s predecessor, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said it is proof that Israel today does not want peace with the Palestinians.

In fact, Olmert’s assertions, as shown by CNN’s transcript, fell far short of claiming that “it [annexing parts of the West Bank] is proof that Israel today does not want peace with the Palestinians.”

Zakaria, like his colleagues at CNN, can be depended upon to regularly disparage the Jewish state.

Writing in Harper’s, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a terrible civil war with your brothers, hand over all your weapons …”

First, it’s not true that the Palestinians would be giving up their “holiest places.” Nowhere is it indicated in the peace plan that Muslims would lose any holy places.

Furthermore, the writer fails to inform readers why it would be dangerous to fail to limit the arming of a Palestinian state: There were the wars of 1948 and 1973 caused by attacks aimed at destroying the Jewish state by armies of Arab nations allied with the Palestinians. There was the war in 1967 precipitated by the hostile actions of Egypt, an ally of the Palestinians, endangering Israel. This had been preceded by an increase of Palestinian terrorist attacks upon Israelis.

Then, during the 1980s, 1990s and in 2000-2005, West Bank Palestinians perpetrated organized terrorist intifadas which killed over a thousand Jews.

The ongoing violence has been fueled by the Palestinian Authority’s cradle-to-grave incitement of the people. For example, as the Wall Street Journal noted in 2015, “Mr. [Mahmoud] Abbas, the PA president, said the following on Palestinian television on Sept. 16: ‘We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every martyr [murderer of Jews] will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.’”

Hopefully, the next time a Harper’s writer deals with this subject matter or a similar topic, the approach will be more measured.

We’ve said it often, but it’s worth repeating: Anyone interested in reasonably unbiased information about Israel (at least) should avoid the broadcasts of CNN’s Chief International Correspondent and Anchor, Christiane Amanpour.

In characterizing responses to the Coronavirus epidemic, Amanpour asserted on March 31: “Many leaders are using this crisis to grab special powers and violate civil rights… And Israel and even the U.K. grab emergency powers without an end in sight.”

The first third of the broadcast consisted of a conversation with William Burns, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, “about pandemic and politics.”

Amanpour asserted that there is

a power grab by Prime Minister Netanyahu. He’s managed to consolidate his power even though he didn’t win the election. And Benny Gantz, his opposition, has essentially given up his choice to form a government and decided to go into an emergency government of national unity. And Netanyahu has closed down courts and everything, which presumably, you know, inoculates him from the corruption trial that he was about to face.

But this charge contains typical Amanpour disinformation. As CAMERA’s Tamar Sternthal pointed out in responding to the same disinformation by others: “But Netanyahu did not shut down the courts. Nor did he delay his own trial. Nor have the courts been shuttered, though their activities have been curtailed… it was Justice Minister Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu ally, who ordered the courts to restrict their activity.”

And Amanpour asks Burns, “What does this all mean for that part of the world?”

Burns replies obligingly:

Well, I think in Israel, I mean, the pandemic has provided, in a sense, of a new political lease on life for Prime Minister Netanyahu. He can fight the criminal indictments that have been brought against him from the prime ministry assuming this government is formed, he can begin to rehabilitate his political image. It’s not for nothing that, you know, a lot of Israeli political commentators call Netanyahu the magician… But, you know, at this moment, it seems as if, you know, what’s being strengthened is an attitude in an Israeli government that doesn’t see the urgency in trying to revive a two-state solution.

Amanpour responds here by ending the conversation, “Bill Burns, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much, indeed.”

Indeed – Amanpour unsurprisingly fits Israel’s response to the pandemic into her anti-Israel narrative.

The Masjid Ar-Rahmah mosque teaching – that Allah transformed Jews into apes and pigs for disobeying him – delivered by Imam (prayer leader) Mohamad Joban – was posted online by mosque personnel. This December 2019 indoctrination at the Seattle, Washington area mosque was mainly in English.

This inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric is an Islamist trope used to attack Jews and the Jewish state. Note that the “apes and pigs” teaching has long been a staple of Palestinian anti-Israel propaganda. Here is an example from Palestine Today (Palestinian news agency) via Palestinian Media Watch (PMW):

Headline: “The will of Martyr Omar Al-Abd who carried out the stabbing operation next to Ramallah”

“You [Israeli Jews], the sons of apes and pigs, if you do not open the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, I am certain that after me will come a man who will strike [you] with an iron hand, I warn you! I know that I’m going there and I’ll never come back here; rather I’ll come back to Paradise, in the embrace of Allah’s mercies. How good and pleasant is death and Martyrdom (Shahada) …”

The Joban video clip was posted to the Free Speech Video Platform site (3speak). P L A Y:

Excerpts from the nearly hour-long presentation

[…]

The question now Is whether they [the Jews who turned into apes] continued to have generations [of apes] after their death. The scholars have two opinions. He [one] said that after a while, all of them died. Because Allah made them monkeys as a punishment, they died already. But some say: “No, they have generations…”

[…]

Allah just wanted to tell us what Allah told you a long time ago that people turned into monkeys and that this is true. It is religion, look at them, some of them stayed apes and pigs …

Media covering Joban’s teaching

The only Washington media entity, that could be found, reporting the event is little-known MyNorthwest which nevertheless extracted an apology from the mosque but the apology appears nowhere else (yet).

The question is why didn’t leading local or state media outlets report about such anti-Semitic incitement in the form of a publicized sermon by a local mosque? Why didn’t these outlets — such as the Seattle Times, Spokane Spokesman-Review, The Herald, News Tribune or Seattle TV stations KING (NBC), KIRO (CBS), KOMO (ABC), KCPQ (Fox), KCTS (PBS) — consider this matter to be newsworthy?

It’s disturbing that during the current period of greatly increased violence victimizing Jews, local and state media outlets failed to inform the public of this instance of incitement to such violence.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent anti-Israel diatribe that aired on PA TV was monitored and translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

Excerpt: “I say to [Israel]: Every stone you have built on our land [present day Israel and the West Bank] and every house you have built on our land — there is no escaping that they will disappear, Allah willing. And the more they announce houses here or settlements there — they will all disappear, Allah willing, and will be in the garbage dump of history. And [Israelis] will remember that this land belongs to its people; this land belongs to its inhabitants; this land belongs to the Canaanites who were here 5,000 years ago — and we are the Canaanites!… We will enter Jerusalem as fighters by the millions…”

(PMW is an Israel-based nongovernmental non-profit organization that monitors Arab media in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.)

Palestinian historical histrionics

The Canaanite claim even goes against at least one passage in the Quran (Koran) (Islam’s bible). Chapter 5, verse 21 teaches that the land of Israel (from the river to the sea) belongs to the Jewish people: “Moses said to his people: O my people! Remember the bounty of God upon you when He bestowed prophets upon you and made you kings and gave you that which had not been given to anyone before you amongst the nations. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers.”

Moreover, the Canaanite claim is unsupported by any historical or scientific evidence. On the other hand, contradicting Palestinian denials of Jewish rights to the Land, there is a continuous Jewish diaspora history from the Roman expulsions to the rebirth of Israel as a Jewish state. And ample archeological evidence and biological (DNA) evidence exists — cited here, here and here.

Other such hateful diatribes indoctrinating the Palestinian people are plentiful; for example, a teaching on television by the PA’s Supreme Shari’a Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash, PA Chairman Abbas’ personal advisor on Islam. Al-Habbash stated that Israelis/Jews are the “enemies of Islam,” have a “culture of Satan,” and represent “evil.”

And finally, why do virtually all mainstream media entities — although extensively covering the Palestinian conflict with Israel — continue to ignore all the hateful Palestinian brainwashing?

Fareed Zakaria’s weekly Cable News Network (CNN) program (grandiosely named “Global Public Square”) June 9 broadcast included a discussion of the current U.S. Middle East peace plan with guests Hanan Ashrawi (Palestinian Authority official) and Dan Senor (Republican Party foreign policy adviser). Video of the broadcast does not seem to be available online &#8212 at least not readily available &#8212 but one can read an accurate transcript of it.

The peace plan, only in an early planning stage now (but already rejected by Ashrawi and her fellow Palestinian leaders), puts forth a $50 billion, 10-year investment plan for the Palestinian Authority (PA), Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, with more than half for the PA.

Note that Ashrawi is the only known professing Christian in the otherwise Muslim Palestinian Legislative Council of the PA under Mahmoud Abbas. As a fluent speaker of English, she has often acted as a spokesperson for the PA. Ashrawi, although lauded in the West as a voice for peace and moderation, has, among other numerous blameworthy utterances (more below), endorsed the murder of Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers.

None of Ashrawi’s several misleading claims were challenged.

Key excerpts

Zakaria cued Ashrawi: “The outlines [of the plan] appear to be [that] the Palestinians are given a certain amount of resources for economic development … but not the core demands of statehood …”

Predictably, Ashrawi rejected the plan which would bail out the PA ruled West Bank Palestinians who are in dire economic straits. The PA has other fish to fry &#8212 a nationalism-cloaked generally Islamism-based agenda (more below).

Ashrawi resorted to typical verbiage for her,

This [American] administration has unilaterally taken concrete steps on the ground that are totally prejudicial and illegal and that are preventing any kind of viable or any kind of legal or any kind of acceptable peace plan.

The issue of Jerusalem, the issue of refugees, the annexation of the Golan, the total defunding of the Palestinians [of millions of American taxpayer dollars] … legalizing settlements, all these are steps and positions that are illegal … [and] in a very, very patronizing and racist way [such] that the Palestinians are on probation.

Senor commented,

[T]his is in the context of the gradual soft normalization that’s going on between the Israeli government and Arab governments throughout the Sunni world… It’s debatable whether or not the Palestinian leadership is the future or the past. We’re [United States] going to get this process going. They’ll [Palestinian rulers] either show up or they won’t… [But] aren’t young Palestinians going to look at that and say why aren’t we part of this?

Zakaria asked Ashrawi: “Is it possible that the Sunni Arabs are now aligning themselves so closely or increasingly closely with Israel that they will not spend a lot of time, energy or political capital defending some core demands of the Palestinians and instead be more interested in better relations with Israel?”

Ashrawi responded,

Well, this is one way in which this American administration has been trying to reward Israel, to normalize Israel within the Arab world, to deliver to Israel the Arab world and at the same time to maintain its occupation. If anybody has any knowledge of the context of the history of the core issues they will understand that no Arab leader, no matter how autocratic, is going to accept first of all Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem or the negation of Palestinian refugee rights, or maintaining the Palestinians under occupation.

Debunking Ashrawi’s propaganda

Ashrawi issues a litany of falsehoods and distortions claiming illegality and racism by the United States related to the issues of financial grants, annexation of the Golan, status of Jerusalem, “occupation,” West Bank Jewish settlements and refugee rights.

• Ashrawi falsely and preposterously claims that the U.S. termination of millions of dollars in grants to the Palestinians is illegal.
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In his widely distributed April syndicated opinion piece mainly about ISIS, the Islamist terrorist entity, John B. Quigley, an Ohio State University law professor, argues that claims of an imminent ISIS resurgence in the Middle East “are overblown” but this is likely to change if U.S. support of Israeli actions continues. Clearly, this is nonsense. It’s well known that ISIS is driven by the goal of creating  a worldwide Islamic caliphate. What stands in the way of this is opposing persistent armed force and effective military intelligence. 

In his concluding statement he echoes the false “war crimes” charge against Israel and makes other dubious claims:

Trump unfortunately has a knack for giving ISIS issues to use to incite against the United States. Last year, as Israeli snipers shot 6,000 Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border — shootings that the UN called “war crimes” — Trump insisted that Israel was doing nothing wrong.

Last May, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a city that few in the Arab world see as belonging to Israel. More recently, Trump said that Israel owns the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967. Actions like these are a gift to ISIS.

Even though ISIS is weakened, it remains a force. We should stop helping it recruit.

Quigley echoes the U.N. Human Rights Council’s charge of “6,000 Palestinian protesters” shot (over a period of time) at the Gaza Strip border. But the accuracy of this charge is unreliable. Note that UNHRC has received widespread international criticism for its anti-Israel bias. Even its own founder makes this charge.

The false “war crimes” charge against Israel is not new. But Israeli tactics and actions have not changed since General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2014, reacting to similar false war crimes charges, commended Israel: “I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths [in the Gaza Strip] to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties.” Likewise, Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, testified on Sept. 4, 2014 about Operation Protective Edge [Gaza], and basically reiterated his testimony about a previous such operation before the U.N. Human Rights Council in October 2009: “During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of war.”

In his zeal to vilify Israel and U.S. policy, Quigley grossly exaggerates any negative impact of the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem and U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The embassy move generated no noticeable violence anywhere except among Palestinians and even that didn’t last long. And anyway, the majority of Palestinians are quick to anger about nearly anything American or Israeli thanks to cradle to grave incitement by their political and Islamist religious leaders.

The Golan Heights matter caused little if any outrage in the Arab world although it riles Quigley. Even the New York Times, generally quick to criticize Israel for any perceived infraction, reported that the U.S. declaration “was met across much of the Arab world with a shrug.” But Quigley thinks he knows better. The Times also noted that the 22,000 Arabs inhabiting the Heights are “Arabs from the Druze sect who mostly retained Syrian citizenship and avoided politics. The area has avoided the violence that has riled the Palestinian territories. Israel offered the Arab residents citizenship, but few have accepted it.”

This is not the first time Quigley has falsely characterized Israeli actions (more below).
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