As Jewish Americans, we are incensed by the attacks leveled against Rep. Ilhan Omar for criticizing the U.S.-Israel relationship and the portrayal of that criticism as antisemitic.

It is not antisemitic to criticize Israel nor to criticize Israel's supporters for the means by which their support is sometimes expressed. It is, however, antisemitic to assert that there is no distinction between Israel and Jewish people.

Members of Congress who deviate from standard pro-Israel positions become targets of intense political and financial pressure campaigns – from within Congress and without, from Christians and Jews alike – intended to either sway, silence, or drive those individuals from public office.¹ The net effect is that loyalty to Israel is demanded of every member of Congress, and those who refuse are made to suffer for it. That an observable reality may line up with an antisemitic trope does not make observing that reality an expression of antisemitism.

Rather, what is antisemitic, and what has actually resulted in both physical threats and violence against Jewish people, is the political use of metonymic antisemitism against prominent liberal Jewish figures like George Soros and Tom Steyer by Republican members of Congress and President Donald Trump.² That powerful white men in federal office are able to evade accountability for their bigoted words and deeds while Rep. Omar receives overwhelming condemnation and formal censure is emblematic of socially entrenched bigotry against Muslims and People of Color in the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Democratic Party.

Democratic members of the House who support legislation and other efforts to censure Rep. Omar, including removing her from committee seats, are complicit in this travesty and should be ashamed.

We are proud to stand with Ilhan Omar.

Footnotes
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1. In 2012, the Emergency Committee for Israel spent $500,000 in an effort to keep Tammy Baldwin from becoming the junior Senator from Wisconsin because of her foreign policy views, which they described then as extreme. She is now a regular AIPAC attendee. https://politi.co/2H03vV4

In 2016, Haim Saban donated $100,000 to defeat Donna Edwards after she declined to sign a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas unilaterally condemning Palestinian violence. https://bit.ly/1pz4oq9

In 2018, the Republican Jewish Coalition dropped $300,000 to stop acclaimed journalist Leslie Cockburn from becoming the representative of Virginia's 5th Congressional District because of her past investigative work on U.S.-Israel intelligence cooperation. https://washex.am/2IUcrgs

2. Donald Trump and other Republican figures' promotion of conspiracy theories about George Soros and the so-called migrant caravan directly contributed to an attempt on Soros' life and the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. https://wapo.st/2tQoC3x

Democratic donor Tom Steyer received a pipe bomb in the mail after then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Steyer, Soros, and Michael Bloomberg, three wealthy Jewish men, were trying to "buy" the election. https://bit.ly/2TgVpy5

Rep. Jim Jordan wrote a similar tweet this week, suggesting that Jewish Rep. Jerrold Nadler is being manipulated by "$teyer." https://cnb.cx/2ISAE74