The obvious problem for the Democrats of the Representative from Minneapolis is she offers Donald Trump and his co-conspirators the perfect boogey man: A Muslim who characterizes Israel as an apartheid state (alienating some American stalwart Jews who still support Israel out of an atavistic affection for the nation of Leon Uris) and she extends her remarks to attack American Jews whose money (Benjamins=$100 bills) support Israel and she questions their loyalty, because, after all, how can you support two countries and be loyal to either?
Part of the problem is she is not very bright and she is ignorant.
Part of the problem is she has not mastered English and is unaware of the resonance of certain phrases.
Bret Stephens, in a very convincing article, suggests she knows exactly what she is doing in her references to the moneyed Jews who conspire against America in the interests of "world Jewry," which must be based in Israel.
She is from a part of the world where people who regard Jews as a powerful enemy, who embrace an image of Jews as money obsessed, virulently self interested, do not even see that as Antisemitism. Now she finds herself in America where the resonances are different.
(There is also something a little suspect in her own presentation of her life story: She portrays Arlington, Virginia as a place where she suffered taunting as a Muslim, and this may be true, but that place is one of the most diverse spots in the nation, perhaps second only to Queens, N.Y.. If there is any place to be an immigrant, that has got to be it. It is Ellis Island on the Potomac.
The Wilson Center describes it thusly:
Arlington, in other words, is at the forefront of demographic processes which are changing the face of American communities as well as the United States in its entirety. Arlington is doing so with relatively little rancor as well as with improving economic opportunities and advancements, achieving low crime rates and far-reaching transportation opportunities. Arlington, in other words, reveals how an “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” city looks.
So Omar's description of her having overcome the bullying of life in a parochial Southern city may be overwrought.)
But I digress: The fact is, Omar has criticized Israeli Jews, American Jews, not because they are Jewish but because of what she says they have done in terms of buying Congress and turning Congress into an "Israel occupied territory."
But the fact is, she has also attacked Saudi Arabia for its depredations in Yemen and she has attacked Egypt, Syria and other Arab nations, saying they are every bit as vile as Iran. So she's sort of an equal opportunity agitator.
Why do I say she is not very bright? Because that description Trump seized upon, while it may emanate from a simple deficit in English vocabulary and training, it was also an invitation to misinterpretation. Part of intelligent speaking is clarity and bullet proofing. "Something happened on September eleventh," did in fact stand as a dismissive remark, "Oh, the L train was late on September eleventh." No, there are some events you cannot describe without clearly stating where you stand on the issue. No Japanese ambassador to the United States would ever say, "Oh, something happened on December 7, 1941."
And tying misdeeds of Jews to money is a pretty ripe trope. For whatever reasons, every anti Semite always suggests Jews are powerful because they are rich and control the flow of money. If she did not understand that, maybe she is just ignorant, which is bad, but if she did know that then she's worse.
The dual loyalty thing is trickier. This really is a problem. Of course, the laws have changed so Americans can now hold dual citizenship. When I was growing up you had to give up every other citizenship once you became an American citizen. Few people seem to worry about the woman who has Norwegian and American citizenship or even British and American passports. But those countries rarely have policies which bring them into conflict with America.
Israel, with its rightward move to Netanyahu, with its ongoing push into lands claimed by Palestinians has, in fact, looked like the bully, even though the Israelis are vastly outnumbered by their mostly hostile neighbors. And Israel has a fundamental, structural problem, as far as I can understand it: Either it is a Jewish state and that means that it cannot allow the majority of people living within its borders (Arabs) to have full political power or it is not, in which case, the Knesset could become a truly representative legislature and vote the Jews out of power. Israelis I have known are as horrified by Orthodox Jews as they are by Palestinians, but they do not go so far as to say Israel should not be a Jewish state. These secular Jews nevertheless cannot accept Israel as an open democracy in which the possibility exists, someday, if demographics go that way, Israel will be just another Arab state in the Middle East.
And what does it mean to be a "Jewish state"? I'm not sure. But I assume it means Jews have privileges not granted to others, namely Palestinians, who live as their neighbors. In that sense, Israel is some flavor of theocracy. But you can say the same of England, with its official Church of England or Italy with its Catholic Church.
Now, I say all this knowing I do not really know what I'm talking about. I do not know enough about Israel and its laws, demography and politics. But neither do most of my fellow Americans. We know we like Israel because they are the only democracy in the Middle East, and they are basically Europeans--at least they look and sound like Europeans even if they resent that perception. We know Israel has actual free elections and we know Israel does not require women to be accompanied by a male in public, holds no public beheadings, allows women to drive, vote, serve in the legislature. Israels, in short, don't offend us with their religious based beliefs.
No matter how you slice it, Omar has been a gift wrapped present to Trump running in the Rust belt and she poisons the Democratic party, which was oh so weak kneed to jettison Al Franken for horsing around, but when Omar rattles the anti Semitic cage, well, the Dems have to be very understanding.
Fact is, there are way more white, male Rust belt voters than Muslim voters.
That's simple democracy.
Part of the problem is she is not very bright and she is ignorant.
Part of the problem is she has not mastered English and is unaware of the resonance of certain phrases.
Bret Stephens, in a very convincing article, suggests she knows exactly what she is doing in her references to the moneyed Jews who conspire against America in the interests of "world Jewry," which must be based in Israel.
She is from a part of the world where people who regard Jews as a powerful enemy, who embrace an image of Jews as money obsessed, virulently self interested, do not even see that as Antisemitism. Now she finds herself in America where the resonances are different.
(There is also something a little suspect in her own presentation of her life story: She portrays Arlington, Virginia as a place where she suffered taunting as a Muslim, and this may be true, but that place is one of the most diverse spots in the nation, perhaps second only to Queens, N.Y.. If there is any place to be an immigrant, that has got to be it. It is Ellis Island on the Potomac.
The Wilson Center describes it thusly:
Arlington, in other words, is at the forefront of demographic processes which are changing the face of American communities as well as the United States in its entirety. Arlington is doing so with relatively little rancor as well as with improving economic opportunities and advancements, achieving low crime rates and far-reaching transportation opportunities. Arlington, in other words, reveals how an “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” city looks.
So Omar's description of her having overcome the bullying of life in a parochial Southern city may be overwrought.)
But I digress: The fact is, Omar has criticized Israeli Jews, American Jews, not because they are Jewish but because of what she says they have done in terms of buying Congress and turning Congress into an "Israel occupied territory."
But the fact is, she has also attacked Saudi Arabia for its depredations in Yemen and she has attacked Egypt, Syria and other Arab nations, saying they are every bit as vile as Iran. So she's sort of an equal opportunity agitator.
Why do I say she is not very bright? Because that description Trump seized upon, while it may emanate from a simple deficit in English vocabulary and training, it was also an invitation to misinterpretation. Part of intelligent speaking is clarity and bullet proofing. "Something happened on September eleventh," did in fact stand as a dismissive remark, "Oh, the L train was late on September eleventh." No, there are some events you cannot describe without clearly stating where you stand on the issue. No Japanese ambassador to the United States would ever say, "Oh, something happened on December 7, 1941."
And tying misdeeds of Jews to money is a pretty ripe trope. For whatever reasons, every anti Semite always suggests Jews are powerful because they are rich and control the flow of money. If she did not understand that, maybe she is just ignorant, which is bad, but if she did know that then she's worse.
The dual loyalty thing is trickier. This really is a problem. Of course, the laws have changed so Americans can now hold dual citizenship. When I was growing up you had to give up every other citizenship once you became an American citizen. Few people seem to worry about the woman who has Norwegian and American citizenship or even British and American passports. But those countries rarely have policies which bring them into conflict with America.
Israel, with its rightward move to Netanyahu, with its ongoing push into lands claimed by Palestinians has, in fact, looked like the bully, even though the Israelis are vastly outnumbered by their mostly hostile neighbors. And Israel has a fundamental, structural problem, as far as I can understand it: Either it is a Jewish state and that means that it cannot allow the majority of people living within its borders (Arabs) to have full political power or it is not, in which case, the Knesset could become a truly representative legislature and vote the Jews out of power. Israelis I have known are as horrified by Orthodox Jews as they are by Palestinians, but they do not go so far as to say Israel should not be a Jewish state. These secular Jews nevertheless cannot accept Israel as an open democracy in which the possibility exists, someday, if demographics go that way, Israel will be just another Arab state in the Middle East.
And what does it mean to be a "Jewish state"? I'm not sure. But I assume it means Jews have privileges not granted to others, namely Palestinians, who live as their neighbors. In that sense, Israel is some flavor of theocracy. But you can say the same of England, with its official Church of England or Italy with its Catholic Church.
Now, I say all this knowing I do not really know what I'm talking about. I do not know enough about Israel and its laws, demography and politics. But neither do most of my fellow Americans. We know we like Israel because they are the only democracy in the Middle East, and they are basically Europeans--at least they look and sound like Europeans even if they resent that perception. We know Israel has actual free elections and we know Israel does not require women to be accompanied by a male in public, holds no public beheadings, allows women to drive, vote, serve in the legislature. Israels, in short, don't offend us with their religious based beliefs.
No matter how you slice it, Omar has been a gift wrapped present to Trump running in the Rust belt and she poisons the Democratic party, which was oh so weak kneed to jettison Al Franken for horsing around, but when Omar rattles the anti Semitic cage, well, the Dems have to be very understanding.
Fact is, there are way more white, male Rust belt voters than Muslim voters.
That's simple democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment