Rep.
Ilhan Omar
(D-MN), the Somali-born congresswoman who has accused Jews of hypnotizing the world while achieving governmental control through financial influence, has landed on perhaps the most laughably absurd excuse for her repeated history of Jew-hatred: ignorance.
Speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash (who is Jewish) and alongside Rep.
Adam Schiff
(who is also Jewish — at least until it presents even the smallest political inconvenience), Omar said that she “certainly did not or was not aware that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope.”
ILHAN OMAR FEIGNS IGNORANCE ABOUT ANTISEMITISM
“I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money,” Omar continued. “That has been a very enlightening part of this journey.”
“To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong,” she added.
This is obviously absurd on its face. Omar accused Jews of hypnotizing the world in 2012. In the years that followed, she met with multiple Jewish people and groups in order for them to explain why antisemitism is bad. It wasn’t until 2019 that she
tweeted
her “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby” comment, reigniting accusations of
antisemitism
.
And she’s trying to convince us that, in seven years of meetings with Jewish figures and organizations, not one of them mentioned the financial wing of antisemitism?
Moreover, if she had no clue that mind control and financial influence were pillars of historical antisemitism, then isn’t it a stunning coincidence that her anti-Jewish criticism just so happens to align perfectly with these same pillars?
Not only has Omar accused Jews of hypnotizing the world and leveraging political control through financial influence, but she has also compared the Jewish nation to terrorist groups and accused Jewish political figures of dual loyalty — all while her best friend in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), literally flies the Palestinian flag outside her office.
For someone who knows nothing about antisemitism, Omar is a natural.
What makes matters worse is that the excuse of ignorance isn’t even original. In 2019, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
defended
Omar with a stunning example of the soft bigotry of low expectations, arguing that she did not believe the congresswoman understood the “weight of her words.”
Now, it’s important to note that ignorance can be a valid explanation for individual instances of bigotry. For example, NBA player Meyers Leonard was
indefinitely suspended
in 2021 for using an antisemitic slur during a video game stream.
“I am deeply sorry for using an anti-Semitic slur during a livestream yesterday,” Leonard said in a
statement
. “While I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong.”
What’s the difference between Leonard and Omar? Leonard hasn’t repeatedly spewed antisemitic bile in the months and years that followed.
We should all be pushing for a forgiving society in which we are able to learn from our mistakes. But it’s impossible to argue that Omar is making an innocent mistake. In reality, she is simply saying precisely what she thinks, and she’s saying it over and over.
She also believes she can get away with it. Is she wrong?
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Ian Haworth (
@ighaworth
) is the host of
Off Limits with Ian Haworth
.
