By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – House Republicans did not do a favor for Israel nor the American Jewish community when they kicked Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, off the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Instead, they turned her into a political martyr, thereby magnifying her importance among progressives and potentially fueling antisemitism.
Supposedly, statements made by Omar smacking of antisemitism for which she has apologized were the reason for kicking her off the influential committee. At one time, she said support in Congress for Israel was “all about the Benjamins,” a reference to Benjamin Franklin being pictured on the $100 bill. That reinforced the calumny that our Jewish people, through our money, control Congress. She also said at another point that Israel somehow had “hypnotized” the world into supporting it, which was taken as a veiled reference to supposed dark Jewish power.
However, if antisemitism were indeed the real reason Omar was booted, then Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, would not have at the same time been appointed to the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Greene, who has traded in Q-Anon theories, had famously suggested that wildfires in Northern California had been started by Jewish lasers shot from outer space. Hard to imagine a congressional representative making such an absurd and antisemitic statement, but she did, and now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, has rewarded her because she supported him in the recent tense battle for the Speakership.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, suggested that the real reason Omar was removed from the committee was because Omar is a woman-of-color and a Muslim, against whom Ocasio-Cortez contends the Republican leadership has outright prejudice.
I don’t think that was the real reason for Omar’s removal either.
I believe Republicans are trying to use Omar’s pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel orientation as a wedge issue in an attempt to wean Jews who passionately support Israel away from the Democratic party.
The gambit didn’t work: every Democrat in Congress, including all those who serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee, voted against the removal. The Foreign Affairs Committee’s Jewish members include San Diego’s own Sara Jacobs; Brad Sherman of California, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, Kathy Manning of North Carolina, and Jared Moscowitz of Florida.
The authorized composition of the Foreign Affairs Committee is 27 Republicans and 24 Democrats. Until a successor for Omar is seated on the committee, there are 23 Democrats. While Omar, like any member of a committee, has a voice, so too do the 50 other members of Congress who sit on that committee, which for decades traditionally has been strong for Israel’s defense and for America’s alliance with the Jewish state.
So, there never was a danger that Omar’s participation on the committee would jeopardize the strong U.S.-Israel relationship. If anything, her continued exposure and person-to-person contact with so many pro-Israel members, the Jews among them, may have tempered the worldview with which she grew up as a refugee from Somalia.
The Republicans’ tactic was aimed at Jewish voters. You can forecast the oversimplified messaging that will be compressed into 30-second TV commercials to try to convince Jewish and pro-Israel voters that Democrats are trying to undermine Israel, and that only Republican candidates can prevent that.
As one who is registered as a political independent, I believe it is healthy that there are Jews active within both the Republican and Democratic parties. That way Democrats, who claim the majority of our votes, won’t take us for granted, and Republicans won’t write us off.
In the battle for the loyalty of our fellow Jews, let’s hope that in the future neither Republicans nor Democrats jeopardize the special U.S.-Israel relationship with such partisan appeals.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Are the Republicans trying to wean Jewish voters or woo them?
Both I would assume. Wean them away from the Democrats, woo them to love Republicans
In giving Omar a pass for antisemitism, Democrats have crossed a line that no party or its supporters can transgress without being rightly accused of enabling Jew-hatred. By rallying around her, either out of party loyalty or hypocritical opposition to cancel culture that they never apply to embattled conservatives, is to make antisemitism a partisan issue. This is a historic development that may make it impossible to ever put the genie of intersectional hate for Jews back in the bottle. It’s also an unforgivable betrayal of their Jewish voters and the principles of tolerance that they claim to uphold.