PHILADELPHIA — No “evil doings of Israel” for Antone Melton-Meaux, as Ilhan Omar once proclaimed. Rather, he argues that “Israel has long stood as a beacon of liberal democracy.”
In backing a two-state solution, Melton-Meaux reflects: “The United States must be a partner in realizing a modern, prosperous Palestine. We need to renew our focus as an international leader in peace and help end this conflict.”
It appears that voters in Minneapolis and its suburbs have an opportunity to send one of their sane, sensible neighbors to Congress in stark contrast to their current representative, who was already caught in a dangerous lie designed to mollify Jews in her district ahead of her first election in 2018.
Melton-Meaux – descendant of slaves, an attorney, a fair housing advocate, husband of a surgeon and a student Fellowship recipient on Capitol Hill – is one of three candidates challenging Omar in the Democratic primary this August.
The primary will be the most realistic opportunity to oust Omar, one of two Democratic representatives who are bluntly hostile to Israel. Both Muslims, Omar fled oppression in Somalia to settle in Minneapolis and Michigan-born Rashida Tlaib has relatives who live in Israel’s West Bank territory.
Both Minneapolis and Detroit, where Tlaib lives, are Democratic strongholds, so it is likely that the Democratic nominee in each district will easily win election on Nov. 3. Tlaib’s main challenger is a follower of the anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan, so it may make little difference who gets nominated.
However, redistricting in 2022 will probably cut into one of the three congressional districts that include parts of Detroit, which means that Tlaib or her successor’s congressional career might be short-circuited by redistricting.
If Tlaib and Omar are re-elected, their standing may not change government policy much. Most Democrats and Republicans in Congress support Israel, as do President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. However, their status as members of Congress could be seen as legitimizing Israel-bashing.
Melton-Meaux is a candidate plucked from central casting. He matches Omar for commitment to domestic issues while advocating for Israeli security and improving conditions for Palestinians. Both points that are stressed on his website.
“Omar has made statements that have been reckless and harmful to the Jewish community,” Melton-Meaux said, as quoted by Jewish Insider. “I have spent time with the Jewish community and have met with Jewish leaders, and there’s a deep sense of betrayal by her actions and displeasure with the way that she has handled herself in the process with regard to the residents in this district.”
Omar represents most of Minnesota’s Jews, and that relatively small number lives in St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb where New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, former Sen. Al Franken and the Coen brothers, the film writer-directors, grew up. Jews compose a small minority of district voters, and Omar’s immigrant Somali community also comprises a minority.
Melton-Meaux made important contacts in the Democratic Party when he was chosen for the Congressional Black Caucus Fellowship during a break from law school, he wrote on his website. He worked for Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the veteran nonvoting representative for Washington, D.C., and Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Jewish Insider reports that he has raised $483,000, mainly from local donors as the most recent Federal Election Commission filings show, while Omar has outraised him by nearly $3 million.
Melton-Meaux, 47, is among 40 candidates endorsed this year by Pro-Israel America, a political action committee backing candidates who support Israel. Jeff Mendelsohn, executive director of the committee, told a Jewish Insider reporter that Melton-Meaux is the “strongest challenger to Omar, is seen as the candidate most likely to succeed in the efforts to unseat her, and he has voiced his recognition of Israel as a strategic ally of the United States.”
His ties to the Jewish community extend at least to his college years when he studied the Hebrew Bible as a religious studies major at Washington University in St. Louis, and worked at the local Hillel, according to JI. He received a master’s degree in theology, Hebrew and preaching at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also worked at The New Jewish Home, a nonprofit senior health care system in Manhattan.
He even delivered a Dvar Torah during a Jewish Community Relations Council session in 2012 in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he addressed the links between Leviticus 19 and Matthew 26, which calls for everyone to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” He added, “If there was ever a time when Jews, Christians and all people of faith need to be reminded that we share a common bond, the time is now.”
Impressive? He can even fill in as House chaplain. Just a fraction of his talents places him in a far different league than Omar.
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Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He may be contacted via bruce.ticker@sdjewishworld.com