RUTHFULLY YOURS

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Ilhan Omar over her more moderate opponent in a hotly contested primary race for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district scheduled for August 11. Despite Pelosi’s endorsement, Omar’s challenger, Antone Melton-Meaux, has managed to garner a substantial war chest and has out-funded Omar by wide margins. He draws support from more moderate Democrats who view Omar with suspicion and have been turned off by her toxic rhetoric, questionable ethics and anti-Semitic commentary.

Omar has raised the ire of moderate Democrats who view her malign commentary as a liability to the Democratic Party. She has also raised eyebrows by engaging in a pattern of ethical breaches that would have ended the careers of other politicians similarly situated.

Omar has been dogged by accusations of marrying her brother in an alleged convoluted immigration, education and marriage fraud scheme. It’s an allegation that she’s referred to as “disgusting lies” but she’s yet to rebut the charge, the evidence for which remains compelling and persuasive. The FBI is reportedly investigating the claim but has yet to confirm or deny the existence of an official criminal investigation.

She also filed joint tax returns with an individual she was living with while simultaneously legally married to another individual, to wit, her alleged brother. In addition, Minnesota campaign finance officials found that Omar had misused campaign funds in violation of state rules. She was forced to repay her campaign committee nearly $3,500 and was also required to pay a $500 penalty to the state.

Finally, Omar has channeled more than $878,000 of campaign funds to E Street Group, a consulting firm owned and operated by Tim Mynett. Omar and Mynett were lovers and are now married. It’s Omar’s third marriage, including the alleged sham marriage to her brother. She transferred $189,000 to Mynett’s firm after Mynett and Omar officially tied the knot.

Equally disquieting is Omar’s long, vile history of spewing anti-Semitic slurs and conspiracy theories. In the past, she’s accused American Jews of possessing dual loyalties and claimed that pro-Israel sentiment is driven by money. “It’s all about the Benjamins,” she infamously tweeted. In another tweet, she claimed that Israel had “hypnotized the world,” and in a Jihadist bent, asked that “Allah awaken the people and let them see the evil doings of Israel.” Before her congressional election, she told an audience that she opposed the BDS ideology but performed a remarkable about-face following the election. She is now among the fiercest proponents of the anti-Semitic ideology and often propagates the Israel-apartheid canard. She has also obscenely likened boycotts of Israel to boycotts of the Nazi regime.

In response to Omar’s repeated anti-Semitic outbursts, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a watered down, pathetic resolution condemning antisemitism. Tellingly, Democrats failed to mention Omar even though it was her vile remarks that prompted the resolution. Even more revealing is the fact that though Omar’s remarks were directed toward Jews and Israel in particular, Democrats could not bring themselves to formulate a resolution that specifically addressed antisemitism. Instead, they chose to lump age-old, Jew hating conspiracy theories with about a dozen or so other categories including Islamophobia and transphobia.

There were calls for Pelosi to kick Omar off the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, a reasonable recommendation considering her repeated anti-Semitic outbursts. Pelosi had originally assigned Omar to the coveted committee despite her long record of anti-Israel advocacy. But Pelosi stubbornly refused to entertain the suggestion.

In 2019, the NGO StopAntisemitism.org gave Omar the dubious distinction of being anti-Semite of the year, edging out the likes of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and white supremacist Richard Spencer. The group cited a long litany of reasons including those previously noted as well as an abject lack of remorse, and the fact that former KKK head David Duke publicly endorsed many of her statements.

In August 2019 Omar and fellow congressional cohort Rashida Tlaib, planned to visit Israel and meet with an assortment of anti-Israel agitators and provocateurs on trip sponsored by a pro-Palestinian NGO called Miftah. Miftah had previously been caught spreading ancient blood libels including the particularly insidious canard that Jews use the blood of non-Jewish children as an ingredient in matzah – unleavened bread used during the holiday of Passover. Israel nixed the trip on the well-founded belief that Omar and Tlaib would violate Israeli laws, harm Israel and increase incitement against it.

Omar’s sordid past of anti-Semitism, as well as her legal and ethical transgressions begs the question; why would Pelosi endorse her over a more qualified and more moderate opponent? The answer should be patently obvious to all but the most myopic. Antisemitism is the now the new norm in the Democratic Party. It has been mainstreamed by the likes of Pelosi and her media allies at the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC.

The Democratic party of today has drifted hopelessly and irretrievably into Corbyn territory while the voices of moderation are being silenced through bullying and intimidation. The more Democrats lurch dangerously leftward and pander to their extremist elements, the more the level intolerance and toxicity will increase and just like the British Labor Party, Jews will find themselves unwelcome in the party they once called home.