The GOP’s hand-wringing over anti-Semitism has long been cynical and insincere, writes zakcheneyrice
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images On Tuesday, President Trump told reporters, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” adding later that he meant disloyalty to Israel — a bizarre accusation to lob at a bunch of Americans.
A gift fell into the Republican Party’s lap last November: Ilhan Omar was elected to Congress. A 36-year-old Muslim, immigrant, and Somali refugee, the Minneapolis-area representative was a tailor-made bogeyman for a party whose reliance on anti-Muslim hostility had reached a new apex with Trump’s election. As a bonus, Omar was critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.
It was never a very convincing argument. But Republicans repeated their allegations often and loudly enough — and Omar remained undaunted enough in her criticisms of Israeli policy and American Islamophobia — that it became a centerpiece of their case for 2020 votes and efforts to siphon off Jewish support from Democrats. At times, even their opponents indulged them; Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked Omar in all but name and submitted a resolution meant initially to distance the party from her.
These salvos have helped obfuscate less-disputable anti-Semitism on Trump’s part. Logically speaking, the implication that a vast majority of American Jews are disloyal should rankle Republicans who used Omar’s claim that Israel’s lobbyists have normalized “allegiance to a foreign country” to accuse her of invoking the anti-Semitic “dual loyalty” trope.
The GOP’s hand-wringing over anti-Semitism has long been cynical and insincere. At its most strategic, it’s meant to shore up the Trump administration’s alliance with Benjamin Netanyahu’s in Israel and those who support it — white Christian Evangelicals most crucially, plus a smaller number of conservative Jews and other Americans unconcerned by Israel’s human-rights record. At its basest, though, it’s an expression of the right’s long-standing antipathy toward Islam and its practitioners.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Just A Bunch Of Hilarious Tweets And Memes About Spider-Man Leaving The MCULaughing to keep from crying.
Read more »
After Palestinian Authority bans queer group, Rep. Ilhan Omar tweets 'LGBTQ rights are human rights'Omar clarified that 'pretending that this act somehow balances or mitigates Israel violating the dignity and rights of Palestinians—or undermines cases for defending Palestinian rights—is deplorable.'
Read more »