It was just a phrase uttered to reporters gathered around Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota last week as she showed up at a Columbia University encampment to greet pro-Palestinian protesters, including her daughter, a student activist. to show their support – to demonstrate against the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Ms. Omar, a leading pro-Palestinian voice in Congress, rejected the argument that the protests were anti-Semitic, pointing out that many of those taking part were Jewish. “All Jewish children” should be safe, she said, regardless of which side they were on in the debate — or, as she put it, “whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
But by phrasing that Jews who support Israel’s military campaign are “genocide advocates,” Ms. Omar waded into an increasingly turbulent storm for many on the American left as she faces questions about the extent to which anti-Semitism overshadows demonstrations that are taking place have broken out on campuses from New York to Los Angeles.
Ms. Omar is a Democrat and one of two Muslim women in the House of Representatives. She was elected with the support of President Biden, among others.
“This language is despicable,” said Rabbi David Wolpe, a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School who resigned from a Harvard anti-Semitism panel after anti-Israel protests swept the university.
“I don’t know anyone who is pro-genocide,” said Mr. Wolpe, who said he walked past an encampment at Harvard while talking on his cell phone. “In the course of condemning anti-Semitism, it shows anti-Semitism. It’s an amazing paradox – I mean, it’s a sad paradox.”
Ms. Omar’s comments were the latest example of how the war in the Middle East has proven to be a painfully difficult issue for across the political spectrum, but especially for the left, which has split from the Democratic Party’s long history of support for Israel.
Some of Israel’s critics appear to have difficulty distinguishing between opposition to the policies of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the anti-Semitism that many Jewish leaders see as unleashed in the last six months, which they say sparked many protests out of. Jewish students said they felt threatened by the demonstrations on many campuses.
Ms. Omar showed no sign of retracting her statement, citing reports of threats against Muslims since the Hamas attack that sparked the war. She pointed to an article in The Intercept that said students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst were chanting “Kill all Arabs.” In a post on
The fact that Jews are protesting against Israel in Columbia should come as no surprise: it reflects the ideological diversity of American Jews on the issue. Many Jews, like many protesters at universities from Columbia to the University of Southern California, are critical of the Netanyahu government’s attacks that have resulted in so many civilian casualties — while also staunchly supporting the existence of the Jewish state.
Ms. Omar’s comments appeared to further polarize an already polarizing issue. “It is despicable that a sitting member of Congress would defame an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner,” Jonathan Greenblatt, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, said on social media. “This is how people get killed.”
And it appeared to put some of her allies on the left in an awkward position, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. When Mr. Sanders was asked on CNN if he felt “satisfied” with what she said, he replied: “Look, what I think Ilhan essentially said is that we don’t see anti-Semitism in this country “And I think the word genocide will be decided by the International Court of Justice.”
In her remarks at Columbia University, Ms. Omar said it was “really unfortunate that people don’t care that all Jewish children are safe and that we don’t have to tolerate anti-Semitism or bigotry toward all Jewish students,” whether they are pro -genocide or anti-genocide.”
Her communications director, Jacklyn Rogers, said Ms. Omar “unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism and bigotry toward all Jewish students.”
“Attempts to misinterpret her words are intended to distract from the ongoing violence and genocide in Gaza and the major anti-war protests in our country and around the world,” Ms. Rogers said.
All of this showed few signs of a drop in temperatures. Mr. Wolpe criticized Ms. Omar for trying to invoke the presence of a small group of Jewish protesters to refute what he said was strong evidence of anti-Semitic sentiment at the demonstrations.
“This is a signature maneuver and I am not surprised to hear from Omar,” he said. “I think a lot of the students in the camp are really decent. But there’s definitely a core that doesn’t.”
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2024-04-30 03:10:54
www.nytimes.com
