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Ilhan Omar

February 4, 2023

Ilhan Omar Claims Ignorance Over Antisemitic Remarks — But People Aren’t Buying It

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) recently came under fire after claiming she was unaware of the “tropes about Jews and money.”

The far-left congresswoman has been accused of making antisemitic remarks in the past. CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Omar over her rhetoric, citing several examples, including when Omar said “Israel has hypnotized the world,” and that America’s support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins.”

“I might have used words at the time that I didn’t understand were trafficking in antisemitism,” Omar said.

“When that was brought to my attention, I apologized. I owned up to it,” she added. “That’s the kind of person that I am, and I continue to work with my colleagues and my community to fight against antisemitism.”

As the interview continued, Omar insinuated that the Republican-led chamber had removed her from her committee assignments because of bigotry. But Bash wasn’t finished pressing the congresswoman on her past remarks.

“So when you apologized for the ‘All about the Benjamins’ comment, you said, ‘antisemitism is real, and I’m grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes.’ What did you learn?” Bash asked.

“A lot. I certainly did not, or was not aware, that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope,” Omar responded. “I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. 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.”

Omar accused of being ‘not only an antisemite but also a bad liar’

Soon after Omar pleaded ignorance, the congresswoman faced backlash, with critics across the political spectrum accusing her of lying.

Steve Guest, the special adviser for communications for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), tweeted: “Give me a break. That’s BS.”

Avi Mayer, the former managing director of public affairs and senior spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, tweeted: “Ilhan Omar employed one antisemitic trope in 2012, after which she said learned all about antisemitism ‘from Jewish orgs.’ She then employed another one in 2019. But she didn’t know there are tropes about Jews and money? Who believes this stuff?”

Joy Behar, a co-host of The View, said: “She said that she did not know that what she said that was construed as anti-Semitic — she did not know that was what they call a trope, a Jewish trope … that people equate money with Jews, for instance. I don’t believe her.”

Source: New York Post

By T. Thompson
July 21, 2022

17 Lawmakers Arrested on Capitol Hill

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1861: First Battle of Bull Run [Battle of First Manassas], 1st major battle of the US Civil War is fought near Manassas, Virginia, Confederate victory.

The U.S. Capitol Police arrested 17 members of Congress at a pro-abortion rally in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) were among those arrested at the rally.

“We have already given our standard three warnings. Some of the demonstrators are refusing to get out of the street, so we are starting to make arrests,” the Capitol Police tweeted at 1:20 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

Ocasio-Cortez was widely mocked after video footage showed her seemingly pretending to be handcuffed as police escorted her away.

Video showed the lawmaker holding her hands crossed behind her back as if she was wearing handcuffs — until she raises a fist to the crowd in solidarity.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald took to Twitter to share “what makes it even funnier that AOC pretended to be handcuffed” in the video.

“Just last week, she claimed she almost slapped her catcaller but realized she ‘needed to catch a vote more than a case today’ — as if she were worried about adding to her notoriously long rap sheet,” Greenwald tweeted.

Omar was also visible in the video, walking away from the demonstration with her hands behind her back, despite not being handcuffed.

Still, Omar posted a video of her pretending to wear handcuffs, writing: “Today I was arrested while participating in a civil disobedience action with my fellow Members of Congress outside the Supreme Court. I will continue to do everything in my power to raise the alarm about the assault on our reproductive rights!” 

By T. Thompson
July 8, 2022

Florida Man Sentenced for Threatening Ilhan Omar

A Florida man was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $7,000 over a threatening email he sent to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in 2019.

Sarasota resident David Hannon, 67, apologized for his actions before U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle handed down the sentence, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

“I’m very, very sorry and very remorseful about my behavior that night,” Hannon told the judge. “I can’t believe I would do something as heinous as that.”

“I do have remorse that I did target Ms. Omar,” he said. “But I don’t have any hatred toward anyone, whether their race, creed, color, or nationality. This is the United States of America, and whatever people do and say, they have a right to do that. But I had no right to write that email.”

Hannon was intoxicated in July 2019 when he wrote an email to Omar with the subject line, “Your dead you radical Muslim.”

“We Are Ready To Carryout Mass Assassinations Against Alquida Radicals That Have Somehow Got Into Our American Political Parties,” the email read. “Your Already On The HIT LIST BY OUR AMERICAN PATRIOT ARMY AND THE MOUSAD!”

He also threatened other lawmakers affiliated with the so-called Squad — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).

“YOU WONT HEAR THE BULLET GOING THROUGH YOUR OR THEIR HEADS! ALL FOUR OF YOU CONGRESS WOMEN WILL DIE AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL CHEER! PATRIOTS AGAINST ISLAM! GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

In addition to the three years of probation and the $7,000 fine, the judge ordered Hannon to undergo mental health and substance abuse treatment and to refrain from contacting Omar.

Elizabeth Hannon Dillon, Hannon’s daughter, told the judge that her father’s email was former President Donald Trump’s fault.

“He was doing that because Trump told him to,” she said. “He was a Trump supporter, and now he regrets it.”

By T. Thompson
December 18, 2021

House Approves Omar-backed Bill to Combat ‘Islamophobia’

The House passed legislation that seeks to combat “worldwide” Islamophobia in response to Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) controversial remarks last month against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

The measure passed 219-212 along party lines.

Debate on the House floor over the bill came to a halt after Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) made comments met with audible gasps in the chamber, calling Omar anti-Semitic.

“Let’s face it: Aside from the attempts to placate an anti-Semitic member of this chamber, all that’s really happening here is that House Democrats are deflecting from the real issue confronting the House of Representatives, and that is that the maker of this bill has no business sitting on House committees has no business in this chamber,” Perry said.

“American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay terrorist organizations, organizations that the maker of this bill is affiliated with, like the one that’s an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror-financed case in the United States of America’s history.”

Perry also took issue with a lack of a definition for “Islamophobia” in the bill, arguing that it would be “made up” based on individuals’ “political proclivities.”

“And by intentionally leaving the definition blank in this bill, the gentlelady and my friends on the other side of the aisle are creating an office in our State Department that will likely spew anti-Semitic hatred and attack Western ideas throughout the world under the farce of protecting Islam,” he said.

House Democrats immediately launched a formal objection and requested that Perry’s remarks be stricken from the record.

“He called her a terrorist!” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI). “We can’t let this go.”

The House parliamentarian later found that Perry made inappropriate remarks that were “not in order” with House rules.

The bill, which Omar is a lead author of, “requires the U.S. State Department to create a Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia and include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence and impunity in the Department’s annual human rights reports.”

The legislation now heads to the Senate.

Source:

House Democrats pass bill to combat Islamophobia in support of Omar

By T. Thompson
December 9, 2021

Dems Move to Strip Boebert of Committee Assignments Over ‘Jihad Squad’ Comments

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) introduced a resolution to condemn Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for her “Islamaphobia” that would include removing her from her current committee assignments.

Pressley is a member of the so-called Squad of far-left lawmakers that includes Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who Boebert recently referred to as a member of the “Jihad squad.”

“For a Member of Congress to repeatedly use hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobic tropes towards a Muslim colleague is dangerous. It has no place in our society and it diminishes the honor of the institution we serve in,” Pressley said. 

“Without meaningful accountability for that Member’s actions, we risk normalizing this behavior and endangering the lives of our Muslim colleagues, Muslim staffers and every Muslim who calls America home. The House must unequivocally condemn this incendiary rhetoric and immediately pass this resolution. How we respond in moments like these will have lasting impacts, and history will remember us for it,” she added.

So far, twelve lawmakers have co-sponsored the resolution, including Squad members Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Source:

Progressives Push U.S. House Leaders to Punish Republican Boebert

By T. Thompson
December 2, 2021

Ilhan Omar Shares a Death Threat She Received in a Disturbing Voicemail [Video]

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shared a death threat left on her voicemail, imploring House leaders to act on “anti-Muslim hatred” within their ranks and “hold those who perpetuate it accountable.”

Recently, a video of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) calling Omar a member of the “jihad squad” and likening her to a terrorist went viral.

“When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the ‘jihad squad’ and falsifies a story to suggest I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just an attack on me but on millions of American Muslims across the country,” Omar told reporters at a news conference. “We cannot pretend this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences.”

She then played the disturbing voicemail, which contained profanity, racial epithets, and a threat to “take you off the face of this f—king Earth.” She said it was among hundreds of similar messages she’s received since joining Congress.

Omar said this particular voicemail was left after Boebert posted a video on Instagram criticizing her.

In the recording, a man’s voice says, “You will not be living much longer, bitch,” and that “we the people are rising up.” He tells Omar she will stand before a military tribunal.

“It is time for the Republican party to actually do something to confront anti-Muslim hatred in its ranks and hold those who perpetuate it accountable,” Omar said.

She called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to “take appropriate action.”

Warning: disturbing and graphic language.

Source:

Ilhan Omar airs death threat and presses Republicans on ‘anti-Muslim hatred’

By T. Thompson
December 1, 2021

Namecalling Continues in Greene’s Latest Squabble: ‘Bats—t Crazy’

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) exchanged insults on Tuesday, with the pair hurling names like “trash” and “bats—t crazy.”

After Mace criticized Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for an anti-Muslim remark about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Greene blasted her on Twitter.

“[Mace] is the trash in the GOP Conference,” Greene wrote. “Never attacked by Democrats or RINO’s (same thing) because she is not conservative, she’s pro-abort.” RINO is an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“Mace you can back up off of [Boebert] or just go hang with your real gal pals, the Jihad Squad. Your out of your league,” she added.

Mace replied within minutes, starting her Tweet by correcting Greene’s spelling.

“And, while I’m correcting you, I’m a pro-life fiscal conservative who was attacked by the Left all weekend (as I often am) as I defied China while in Taiwan,” Mace wrote. “What I’m not is a religious bigot (or racist). You might want to try that over there in your little ‘league.'”

About an hour later, Mace posted another response to Greene’s insult. She quote-tweeted Greene’s initial post with a caption indicating the lawmaker’s words were an example of “bats—t crazy,” utilizing the bat, poop, and clown emojis.

When asked about the feud between Mace and Greene, Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, appeared to try to divert attention away from the social media spat.

“We are unified on the issues that matter to the American people, on making sure that we’re reining in our spending, to tackle inflation, on investing in border security. The issues that people care about are not the Twitter infighting. They care about issues that impact their daily lives. And that’s what Republicans are focused on,” Stefanik said.

Source:

Mace fires back at Greene: ‘Bat—- crazy’

By T. Thompson
November 30, 2021

Boebert Reaches Out to Omar, Escalates Feud

The feud between Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) escalated after Boebert reached out to Omar on Monday in an attempt to bridge the gap following incendiary remarks she’d made suggesting Omar was a terrorist.

Boebert became the center of left-wing ire after a video surfaced of her suggesting that Omar, a Muslim, could be a suicide bomber.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that he spoke with Boebert on Friday, and she apologized for her comments. He also said in a statement that he contacted House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for help coordinating a conversation between Omar and Boebert “so that Congress can get back to talking to each other and working on the challenges facing the American people.”

The incendiary video

The tension between Boebert and Omar boiled over after a video surfaced over Thanksgiving weekend of the far-right freshman lawmaker saying she and a staffer were getting on a Capitol elevator when she saw a Capitol Police officer running toward them.

She then turned and saw Omar standing nearby. “I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,'” Boebert said. “And I said, ‘Oh, look. The ‘jihad squad’ decided to show up for work today.'”

Boebert issued an apology on Friday “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar.” Boebert also reached out to Omar’s office to speak with her directly.

But any effort to patch things up quickly soured when Boebert and Omar finally connected over the phone on Monday.

The ill-fated phone call

While Omar has said that the elevator encounter didn’t happen, the pair’s accounts of Monday’s phone call don’t differ too much. Both agree that the call ended with Omar abruptly hanging up on Boebert, and both came away equally aggravated.

Omar said the apology was inadequate, and Boebert said Omar and the Democrats were being too sensitive.

“Instead of apologizing for her Islamophobic comments and fabricated lies, Representative Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments,” Omar said in a statement. “She instead doubled down on her rhetoric, and I decided to end the unproductive call.”

According to Ben Stout, Boebert’s press secretary, Boebert told Omar she was a “strong Christian woman.” She said she should have attacked Omar on their dissenting political views, not on her religion. Boebert said she shouldn’t have told the elevator story and shouldn’t have called her a member of the “jihad squad.”

At that point, Omar demanded a public apology.

“I told Ilhan Omar that she should make a public apology to the American people for her anti-American, antisemitic, anti-police rhetoric,” Boebert said in an Instagram video. “She continued to press, and I continued to press back.”

Source:

Boebert Reaches Out to Omar After Incendiary Video, Escalating a Feud

By T. Thompson
October 11, 2021

The Squad increases pressure on Biden over student loan debt

Members of “The Squad” are turning up the pressure on President Biden to explore his authority to cancel student loan debt.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are leading the charge. The group, led by Omar, sent a letter to Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, imploring the administration to release the memo regarding student loan cancellation by Oct. 22.

“President Biden can cancel student debt with the flick of a pen,” Omar tweeted. “Today, we are calling on the Administration to release the memo on student debt cancellation and [cancel student debt].”

“This authority is already being put to use, as it is currently being used to cancel the interest owned on all federally-held student loans,” the letter read. “Now it is the time for you to honor your campaign pledge and use this authority to cancel all student debt.”

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said that Biden does not have the authority to cancel student debt unilaterally.

Source:

AOC, Omar crank up pressure on Biden to release student loan memo, cancel debt

By T. Thompson
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