After anti-Semitic attacks masquerading as criticism of the government of Israel, freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D. Minn.) was in for rejection by Congressional Democrats earlier this week.
Then something happened. Left-leaning members of the Democratic Conference in the House objected to a draft resolution condemning anti-Semitism because it failed to include victims of hatred who were not Jews. These objections yielded a new draft condemning “hate” and specifying the victims of hatred, including Muslims.
Thus, instead of being a perpetrator of hatred, Ms. Omar became a victim and an enthusiastic supporter of the resolution ensconced in seven pages of drivel. It passed by a landslide on March 7. What should have been a pointed condemnation of what Ms. Omar did became an endorsement of motherhood and apple pie.
The phony argument that carried the day in the Conference is that opposition to the government of Israel does not equate to anti-Semitism as if that is all that Ms. Omar’s statements were doing. I’m opposed to the Netanyahu government not because it’s Jewish but because it’s racist.
Ms. Omar’s references to “Benjamins” and alleged Jewish dual-loyalty to Israel and to the United States is Jeremy Corbyn-style anti-Semitism no matter how much she seeks to disguise it as opposition to the government of Israel’s policies.
And the left rushed to her side. Particularly despicable were the statements by do-nothing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D. Ma.), the former Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. (Why is Sanders running to be the Democratic candidate for President if he’s not even a Democrat?)
I suspect the American voters do not like this charade in which no amount of whipping of House Democrats could yield an on-point resolution so the leadership went with Pablum to project a façade of “unity.” If the House leadership fears a split in the Conference wait until it sees a split in the Democratic electorate handing re-election to Donald J. Trump.
My message to House Democratic leadership: get real.