Quote of the Day

Yet again, both Republican and Democratic party leaders are attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar [right] for telling the truth about American and Israeli war crimes. And yet again, Omar has nothing to apologize for.

. . . The Republican Party and the Democratic Party leadership claim that the United States’ and Israel’s mantles of self-defined “democracies” means that they can be responsible for policing themselves, and that they are in a category distinct from an organization like Hamas. But that argument falls apart when we realize, as Martin Luther King Jr once said, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world is my own government,” the United States.

Lest we forget, the US’s ongoing “war on terror” is responsible for at least 800,000 deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan, and over 37 million people displaced from their homes. An estimated eight hundred US military bases in more than seventy countries patrol the world over in the service of US global domination. Israel, for its part, has killed almost 6,000 Palestinians since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs started keeping tally in 2008, as compared to 262 Israelis killed during that time. In that sense, it’s true, there is no equivalency with the damage caused by a group like Hamas – what the US and Israel have done and continue to do around the world is far worse.

Let’s be clear about what this attack on Ilhan Omar is really about. First, every time the Republicans let loose on Omar, and the Democrats line up behind them, they encourage death threats and put Omar in danger. Second, such actions distract from the ongoing devastation of Palestinian lives, the blockade of Gaza, the ramifications of the most recent bombing campaign, and apartheid within Israel. Imagine, as Rep. Ayana Pressley put it, if instead of wasting time targeting Ilhan Omar, “Congress was as outraged by what Palestinians endure daily.”

. . . The Congressional Progressive Caucus, other members of the Squad, and grassroots organizations were right to come to Omar’s defense. It’s good to finally have a leftist on the House Foreign Affairs Committee calling out US hypocrisy and exposing war crimes, as Omar has consistently done. Neither she, nor the movement for Palestine, has anything to apologize for.

– Hadas Thier
Excerpted from “Ilhan Omar Has Absolutely Nothing to Apologize For”
Jacobin
June 11, 2021

Related Off-site Links:
“The Truth Can't Be Hidden”: Omar Hits Back at Dems Upset by Critique of US-Israel Atrocities – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 10, 2021).
Progressives Rally to Defend Ilhan Omar After “Bad Faith” Attack by House Democratic Leadership – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, June 10, 2021).
Congressional Progressive Caucus Statement in Support of Rep. Omar – June 11, 2021.
Ilhan Omar Is a Threat to US Empire – Lyle Jeremy Rubin (Jacobin, February 23, 2019).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare”
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Ilhan Omar: Quote of the Day – 8/11/20
• Ricardo Levins Morales on the “Deepest Political Fault Line” Separating Democrats Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux
• To Whom the Future of America Belongs
• Ilhan Omar: Quote of the Day – 4/13/19
• Ilhan Omar: Stepping Into Her Power
• Juan Cole: Quote of the Day – 2/11/19
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ilhan Omar “Controversy”
• Ilhan Omar on The Daily Show