Smear politics

It was only a question of when, not if, Muslim US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar would face racism during her time in the House. What has pushed the issue to the brink is Omar’s legitimate criticism of Israel and the undue influence the country has over US policy. While anti-Semitism is a serious problem in the US, the reality is that the biggest source of that is the neo-Nazi part of US President Donald Trump’s support base. The myth of Muslims being ‘anti-Semitic’, peddled by Israel, goes against the reality that the worst forms of anti-Semitism, including the Nazi regime, have been very much ingrained in white society. The rise of anti-Semitism in the West in the last decade has its roots in the rise of neo-Nazism in white populations. But facts hardly serve Israel’s objectives, nor does it serve the centre to far-right leaders in the West to admit that the problem is internal to them. In this context, it is Ilhan Omar t who has found herself pushed into a corner over her criticism of Israel and the presence of an Israeli lobby in Washington.

There is a difference between anti-Semitism and political facts; as there is a difference between anti-Semitism and legitimate criticism of Israel. The fact that Trump asked Omar to resign over her criticism of Israeli lobbying groups, while hiring known anti-Semites in his inner circle at the White House, is a confirmation of this hypocrisy. Omar was made to apologise for her remarks by the Democratic members of Congress, while another openly white supremacist Democratic representative had a resolution against him quashed by the very same party.

What is worrying is that real criticism of Israel is silenced, while the growing anti-Semitism in the US finds no censure. From Charlottesville in 2017 and the murder of eleven Jews at a synagogue last October to the painting of swastikas on buildings in New York, anti-Semitism is not coming from the pro-Palestinian movement. It is also clear that there is a generational divide in the US Congress with younger Democratic representatives rallying on Omar’s side. This is a good sign, but the reality is that the criticism of Omar has highlighted the growing divide in the US, where even US congresswomen can come under attack for their legitimate criticism of Israel.