As Jews we are told from a young age that our identities are intrinsically tied to the modern State of Israel.
It is taught to us in Hebrew School, in services, and is a deeply held belief by many of our parents, grandparents and family members.
Sen. Sanders: "I suggest to CNN and maybe some of my colleagues here, maybe take your cameras, just for a moment, off of Columbia and UCLA . Maybe go to Gaza, and take your camera show us the emaciated children who are dying from malnutrition because of Netanyahu's policies."
Number of
@nytimes
articles about the largest peaceful prison strike in US history: 0
Number of Times articles about Allen fucking Dershowitz not being invited to parties on Martha’s Vineyard: 4
Something deeply ironic that there was a rally today cheering on Netanyahu to “finish the job” with chants of “no ceasefire,” while the actual families of hostages are livid with Netanyahu for not prioritizing their freedom
Stop calling this a "clash" or a "back-and-forth" or a "beef."
A Member of Congress launched an openly Islamophobic attack on a colleague, inciting threats on her life, and then doubled down.
It is not hard to describe this accurately.
Of the 10 most expensive House races in the country, Ilhan was the only outspent candidate to win. She was outspent by $4.5 million (& had a 3rd party challenger).
She won by 39 points.
Honestly, spare me the continued efforts to paint this woman as unpopular.
The biggest top-of-ticket underperformance by any House incumbent in the country? Rep. Ilhan Omar (D). Results in
#MN05
:
Biden 328,764 (80%)
Trump 72,323 (18%)
Omar (D) 255,920 (64%)
Johnson (R) 102,878 (26%)
Can the press also acknowledge the Afghan victims of this war in their coverage? 200,000+ Afghans died. Over 50,000 of them were civilians. Stop erasing them.
To recognize that Israel is a state, like others, that oppresses and dispossesses the powerless.
And that the only way to end that oppression is to give those people equal rights and self-determination—just as we yearned for as Jews.
The story of the Nakba—the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral land in 1948–is left out entirely. 1948 is merely the year Israel gained independence. Who knew Palestinians were part of that story?
Palestinians do not even factor into this story. When reality forces us to reckon with their existence, we are told they are terrorists—warmongers who hate the Jews and are violent by nature (this is Islamophobia btw).
For non-Jews it signals that if you support Israeli policies, then you can’t be anti-Semitic and that if you are critical of Israeli policies you therefore hate the Jews, both of which are lies.
It can be very difficult to unlearn.
Political exclusion based on religion, by definition, leads to hatred, repression, and eventually ethnic cleansing.
Jews should know this more than anyone.
That is why it is so deeply important for Jews in the diaspora to speak out, to reject an ideology that reduces Judaism to political support for Israel—and reduces support for Israel to Jewish exclusivity.
Needless to say, the constant conflation of Jewish identity with one state’s politics is not Good for the Jews.
It reduces the personal to the political. It strips Jews of the ability to define their own relationship with their identity.
Even if not explicitly anti-Semitic, the thinking goes, those who criticize Israel must be doing so because they harbor some anti-Semitic attitudes.
This conflation of religious/communal identity with a far away nation state is reinforced constantly and repeatedly.
This is a blatant lie. Boebert never apologized to
@IlhanMN
privately or publicly and explicitly refused to do so on the phone, instead calling Rep. Omar "anti-American."
By failing to condemn, McCarthy is condoning it.
House Leader Kevin McCarthy on not condemning Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Islamophobic comments directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar: “She apologized publicly. She apologized personally …"
(Boebert has not apologized to Omar publicly and, per Omar, has not privately either.)
They’re really gonna openly block voting rights, childcare, paid leave, climate action, immigration reform, affordable housing, and pre-K, and then turn right around and blame progressives, aren’t they?
In truth, Israel is a state, like many others, founded on the displacement of others.
Its Jewish exclusivity is predicated on the exclusion of millions who continue to live on that land.
"Just as National Review (
@NRO
) defended apartheid, just as you defended segregation, you now defend Israel's oppression of Palestinians' basic rights. It's a tradition for you guys." -
@PeterBeinart
to
@RichLowry
It is reinforced by media and politicians who repeatedly link Jewish identity with the State of Israel.
The flip side of this message is that criticism of Israel is a negation of our identity.
If you have been smearing Ilhan as an anti-Semite, claiming she loves al Qaeda, claiming she hates America, or printing conspiracy theories about her personal life, you’re part of the problem.
Trump may have led a fascist chant, but you created the conditions that allowed for it
Since lots of folks are sharing this, I’ll just say there are real historical reasons for all this (centuries of pogroms, the Holocaust, the centrality of the land in our texts). And none of them justify permanent occupation and dispossession of non-Jews.
“The ICC is not making some claim of equivalence, but is in fact holding both sides in this current war to the same standard. Yes, democratically elected officials can commit war crimes. We can’t only apply international law when it’s convenient.” -
@BernieSanders
🔥🔥
@IlhanMN
on ending childhood hunger:
“I spent 4 years in a refugee camp. I know what it means to be hungry...I believe no child should experience the kind of hunger young Ilhan knew here in the United States. If that makes you radical, then we should all be raging radicals”
McConnell specifically got rid of the filibuster for SCOTUS nominees so they could steal seats and overturn Roe.
Senate Dem leadership won’t even try a one-time carveout to protect abortion rights.
The asymmetry is breathtaking.
In September,
@IlhanMN
laid out a path for Democrats to massively increase turnout.
Last night she increased turnout in her district by almost 100,000 votes, shattering records.
There is a path if we’re willing to take it.
Proud Jew here who works with
@IlhanMN
every day. She is a living example of how to practice solidarity with the Jewish community and learn from past harms.
Your continued efforts to associate her with white nationalists like MTG says far more about you than her.
It's coming fast and furious now.
From Kanye West to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ilhan Omar to Dave Chappelle, antisemitism is being mainstreamed to an extent we haven't seen in recent memory.
Now is the time for non-Jewish allies to stand with the Jewish community.
We need you.
“This is about whether it is okay to hold an assault rifle next to Members’ heads in a campaign ad and incite death threats against them. This is about whether it is okay to encourage the murder of the Speaker of the House.” -
@IlhanMN
For years I understood that Netanyahu and settlers were bad actors, but my sensors would go off when I heard people talk about boycotts or divestment.
Israel may not be perfect, the thinking went, but grassroots efforts to change those policies *must be* antisemitic.
CNN pundit calls Democratic Rep.
@IlhanMN
a “public relations agent for Hamas” with no push back.
Islamophobia is not only normalized in American politics, it’s rewarded.
In just raw political terms, the political class is badly underestimating the backlash it will get for fully bankrolling and enabling the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
This isn’t 2003. Most voters today are not getting their information from cable news and a couple newspapers.
Hillary Clinton and “Hamilton’s” Lin-Manuel Miranda are reportedly stepping into the spotlight for President Biden’s campaign, hosting a Broadway-themed fundraiser together.
Senator Sanders: “When we talk about college campuses, I want everybody to know there are no protests on college campuses in Gaza. You know why? Because every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed and destroyed.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Benjamin Netanyahu potentially being invited to address a joint session of Congress right now: “It’s a terrible idea. No I won’t go. You have a Prime Minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history.”
New York Post smeared
@Ilhan
by claiming she doesn't speak out against Chinese oppression of Uyghurs while she was literally on the House Floor waiting to speak on it.
You can't make this stuff up.
🔥”What is anti-American about wanting our children to be fed?
What is anti-American about wanting people to be housed?
What is anti-American about wanting people to not die in endless wars?
People who call me anti-American are projecting.”
Despite what our opponents say,
@IlhanMN
is against all armed conflict, all violations of intl law, all arms sales and all civilian casualties.
She speaks out on this, regardless of country. So here is a partial list of some of the human rights violations she has condemned!
In the past few days:
- The UN said half of Gaza is starving
- WaPo found that the IDF used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon
- U.S. bypassed Congress to sell tank munitions to the IDF
Meanwhile, this is the homepage of the New York Times. Journalistic malpractice.
I remember pitching segments on Taliban advances, major attacks on US troops, or our foundering military occupation when I was at MSNBC, only to have them spiked.
The failure in Afghanistan is also a failure of our media institutions.
When
@IlhanMN
introduced the student debt cancellation act in 2019, it was laughed at.
Today, she’s standing with the Senate Majority Leader,
@ewarren
and more calling for mass student debt cancellation.
Would love to not spend Saturday night explaining to the hometown paper why showing an image of rockets and saying a Muslim woman launched a “strike” on Israel is not okay
.
@IlhanMN
will be introducing a bill to place sanctions on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the murder of Khashoggi and other human rights abuses
Trump just sold billions of dollars in weapons to a man who oversaw ethnic cleansing…but sure, go off on Bernie for pointing out the fact that Cuba has a literacy program.
Here's
@IlhanMN
handing out food during the uprisings this summer. She was out there every single day—all while her father was on his deathbed.
Fuck to everyone providing any rationalization of a United States Senator flying to Cancun while his constituents freeze.
Across our city, people are showing up for each other.
Whether it is passing out food, fire extinguishers, mutual aid supplies, or helping to clean up, this is the Minneapolis I know and love. 💜
We won. We won the presidency on a progressive platform. We kept the House. Ballot measures on the minimum wage/marijuana legalization won everywhere.
If ever there was a time to celebrate our values, it’s now.
Bernie Sanders saying what every leader should be saying:
“It’s important to understand why these young people are out there: to protest U.S. continued military aid to a right-wing extremist Netanyahu government which is in a destructive war against the Palestinian people.”
Here is Mitch McConnell in 2010 demanding no vote on the ACA until Republican Scott Brown is seated. "I'm convinced now that no gamesmanship will be played by the other side with regard to future votes in the Senate."
.
@IlhanMN
is outside the White House meeting with
@LiberateYemen
, who has been on hunger strike for 9 days calling for an end to the U.S.-backed Saudi blockade of Yemen
.
@Ilhan
was a refugee from Somalia and America welcomed her. If she really believes America is a hateful country on par with the Taliban and Hamas, she's welcome to leave.
Republicans invited a literal white supremacist hate group to testify at the first ever hearing on the Muslim Ban and no one batted an eye.
...except
@IlhanMN
.
The U.S. has now evacuated more than four times the amount of refugees from Afghanistan than we did from Saigon.
Maybe the over-the-top press outrage is actually about the fact that Biden ended a 20 year war in the first place.
They just wrote an entirely new bill on the fly. This bill has had:
-no hearings
-not been debated on the floor
-not been scored by independent analysts
-NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC
This is not regular order.
It’s not even democracy.
Colleague Adam Shapiro rpts updated Senate GOP tax plan keeps the AMT. Increases repatriation charges to 7% & 14%. Maintains the corporate AMT. Restores property tax deduction with 10k caps. Pass through deduction increases from 17.4% to 23%
To put this win in perspective, we were up against the most ever spent in a Minnesota primary—including over $2.5 million in conservative Super PAC money, and a constant barrage of ads. She was outspent by 400% on ads alone.
This should confound doomsayers in both parties. Given all the concerns voters had, it is hard not to see the election as a repudiation of MAGA extremism. THE CENTER HELD.
As a Jew who works with her every single day, this is not only disgusting and false, but is specifically designed to incite actual violence against the Congresswoman.
Losing to a far right fascist ideology and then blaming the very people who have been in the streets for four years resisting that ideology is not an effective way to build power.
This is much bigger than Boebert. The Republican President literally ran on a Muslim ban and attacking Muslim gold star parents. Marjorie Taylor Greene harassed our staff, saying
@IlhanMN
had to swear an oath on the Christian Bible. Anti-Muslim hate is central to their brand.
NEWS:
@IlhanMN
has massive support heading into her reelection race.
74% job approval
70% favorability
37 point lead over closest challenger (her lead actually *increases* to 43 points after they hear his message).
Organized people > organized money
via
@ChangePolls
“12 days of a hunger strike is long. I hope that those who are watching realize that the longer you are on a hunger strike, the longer that there are people actually dying in Yemen.”
@IlhanMN
fighting back tears calling for an end to the US-backed Saudi blockade of Yemen.
For the record,
@IlhanMN
has repeatedly called for accountability for war crimes committed by both Israel & Hamas, and criticized officials who cherrypick which human rights abuses they call out.
With this ad, AIPAC is spreading rightwing disinformation.
“Poverty is not the result of children and families who don’t work hard. Poverty is by political design, and it's rooted in a system that has been fractured and corrupt and rotten from its core from the inception of America."
—
@JamaalBowmanNY