Now that a rocket has exploded near Tel Aviv, we await a statement from Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., condemning the rocket attacks.
Fortunately, early reports said that the rocket that was not intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome system did not cause any casualties. Still, it was aimed indiscriminately into Israel in a way that could well have taken the lives of innocent civilians. And anyone who has lived through such rocket attacks knows the anxiety and disruption they cause even when they fail to kill people.
Rep. Omar has emerged as a fierce critic of Israel and a frequent purveyor of statements widely thought to be not just anti-Zionist but anti-Semitic. Omar repeatedly speaks up for the needs of the Palestinian people for “dignity” and “safety.” But, except when mentioning that others seem to care about the safety of Israelis, she never seems to be worried about the safety of Israelis injured or killed by Palestinian rockets, riots, and rebels.
Columnist Thomas Friedman, no fan of Israel’s current government and a supporter of Palestinian “self-determination,” has noted that Omar “has never criticized the Palestinian leadership for its corruption and failure — time and again — to seize on peace overtures from Israeli leaders … [and] seems to be obsessed with Israel’s misdeeds as the biggest problem in the Middle East — not Iran’s effective occupation of four Arab capitals, its support for ethnic cleansing and the use of poison gas in Syria and its crushing of Lebanese democracy.”
So, if dignity and safety and innocent life really mean something to Omar, now is the time for her to prove Friedman wrong, to prove all her critics wrong, and to speak up for the dignity and safety of Israelis as well.
Come on, congresswoman, we’re waiting.
