Minnesota Socialist Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced legislation in October to create a new State Department office that addresses a rise in anti-Muslim incidents around the globe. Writes A.J. Kaufman
The Combating International Islamophobia Act, sponsored by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., would create an office within the U.S. State Department tasked with monitoring and reporting on violence, harassment and abuse against Muslim people, schools and religious centers.
The bill itself seems unnecessary and transparently partisan, but when the main sponsor is perhaps the most repugnant bigot in Congress, the effort is even more preposterous.
Minnesota Socialist Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced legislation in October to create a new State Department office that addresses a rise in anti-Muslim incidents around the globe. (Indeed, there is ongoing persecution of Muslims in Africa, China, India, Myanmar, and across the Middle East — but not in America.)
The recent push began with Progressives, who increasingly control the party, becoming irate over Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s November comments about Omar. Never satisfied with an apology, they want leadership to boot Boebert from her committees.
It’s worth wondering why Democrats have the audacity to demand Republicans enforce standards that they themselves don’t follow.
Congress has taken swift action on U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Paul Gosar and other Republicans in the past, even though none of these politicians influence serious policy initiatives. GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy certainly isn’t posing with Boebert and Greene on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Conversely, no member of “The Squad” has been punished — instead, they maintain outsized power, considering their limited experience and knowledge — for any of their hateful words.
Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who’s bashed the Jewish State, constantly engages in despicable rhetoric.
First-term Missouri Rep. Cori Bush is frequently guilty of unhinged bigotry.
When not seeking to eliminate policing or espousing anti-Semitic tropes, execrable Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib gets a “calming feeling” when thinking about the Holocaust’s aftermath.
Earlier this fall, The Squad temporarily sank funding for Israel’s defensive “Iron Dome” system, which could’ve enabled genocide of Jews.
Are Democrats complicit when they fail to condemn colleagues who castigate Jews, by far the most targeted religious group in hate crimes?
Democrats will not take action against these abhorrent women, and they notoriously refused to censure Omar for her numerous anti-Jewish comments for fear of backlash from their wealthy donors. Meanwhile, these leftists are treated reverentially by legacy media.
Back to the inane legislation. … Republicans argue there is no need to track Islamophobia, and said it could encourage anti-Semites.
“To suggest that Islamophobia is on par with antisemitism is to dramatically understate and even trivialize the historic and pervasive nature that makes antisemitism such a difficult problem to overcome,” Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot reasoned.
New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican, focused on Omar’s vitriol.
“My colleague who introduces today’s resolution has made a number of statements deeply offensive, has taken a number of foreign policy positions that many on this committee and in Congress and in our country have issue with,” he explained. “And when the statements were specifically targeting people who are Jewish, our nation’s great ally in Israel.”
Florida Rep. Brian Mast fears the Biden administration would use the bill to attack Americans.
“That’s the whole point of this,” the wounded combat veteran argued. “Let’s create an office of attack for people speaking about their concerns.”
(For interview on the bill’s effect on antisemitism on the Lars Larsen show with Rabbi Yaakov Menken,Managing Director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, click here.)
A.J. Kaufman taught school and served as a military historian before beginning his journalism career. His work has appeared in numerous national print and digital outlets since 2005. The author of three books, he also contributes to Israel National News, The Lid, Business Central Magazine, and is a frequent guest on The Ed Morrissey Show. A.J. Kaufman and his wife currently reside in the Midwest.
