State Dept. changes definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ following Omar and Tlaib’s engagement in rhetoric

(FILE PHOTO by video screenshots)

According to the State Department’s newly updated definition of anti-Semitism, it seems clear that Democrat Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are, without a show of a doubt, anti-Semites.

Reportedly updated sometime between May and August of 2019, the State Department’s “Defining Anti-Semitism” web page now lists “[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” as one of eleven examples of anti-Semitism.

This update was uncovered by Adam Milstein, the president of the Milstein Family Foundation, a California-based nonprofit that aims to both strengthen Israel’s relationship with the U.S. and combat anti-Semitic bigotry.

In a tweet posted early last week, he shared an archived copy of the page from May and contrasted it with how the page looks now. He likewise thanked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism Elan Carr for the update:

The discovery of the update comes amid Omar and Tlaib literally “[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

“Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad including … boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust,” Omar bellowed last month as she introduced a pro-BDS bill co-sponsored by Tlaib.

Both her attempt to exploit the Jewish people’s history to score points against these very same people and her attempt to pass a pro-BDS bill were met with widespread condemnation.

“Millions of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, as well refugees from Soviet oppression living in Israel, will find such comparisons unfathomable,” Mark Mellman, the president and CEO of the Democratic Majority for Israel lobbying group, said at the time. “I find them odious. In an effort led by parties of the left, the German Parliament officially labeled BDS as ‘anti-Semitism’—and they were right.”

Fact-check: TRUE.

In May the German Parliament became the first within the European Union to designate the BDS movement as anti-Semitic.

“The nonbinding vote said the campaign to boycott Israeli products, along with the movement’s ‘Don’t Buy’ stickers, recalled ‘the most terrible chapter in German history’ and revived memories of the Nazi motto ‘Don’t buy from Jews,'” The New York Times reported.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who is Jewish, also spoke out against Omar, saying last month, “[T]here are Members of this House who continue to prop up the BDS movement and blame Israel for all of its challenges. Israel is our best ally in the Middle East; a beacon of hope, freedom and liberty surrounded by existential threats. Shame on Rep. Omar for bringing her hateful twist of this reality today to the committee and this chamber.

Take a listen below:

But despite all the criticism lobbed Omar’s way, Tlaib decided to join her cause.

“The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country,” she similarly declared from the House floor last month while speaking out in opposition to a bipartisan, since-passed bill that condemned the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott? Where would we be now without the boycott led by civil rights activists in the 1950s and 1960s. … Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to dehumanization, imprisonment, and genocide of Jewish people. In the 1980s, many of us in this very body boycotted South African goods in the fight against Apartheid,” she said.

She clearly likened BDS’s anti-Semitism-rooted boycott of the state of Israel — which Tlaib resents because of its alleged mistreatment of the Palestinians — with the American boycott decades ago of Nazi Germany, which as a reminder had literally exterminated millions of Jews from the Earth.

And by doing so, Tlaib made it clear — at least according to the State Department’s update definition of anti-Semitism — that she’s an anti-Semite. A proud one at that.

Listen:

These are not the first examples of Omar and Tlaib’s anti-Semitism, and they likely won’t be the last. Omar in particular has, within the span of only eight months, built a rich history of anti-Semitism that includes her accusing pro-Israel groups of pushing allegiance to a foreign country, peddling age-old Jewish tropes and myths and berating a Jewish diplomat.

Yet as of August, nobody within the Democrat Party’s leadership has taken any real action against the duo. And this despite nearly 200,000 Americans having already signed a petition by the American Center for Law and Justice calling for the two to at least be censured.

“Anti-Semitism has no place — especially in Congress,” the petition reads. “Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (MN) and Rashida Tlaib (MI) have repeatedly engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric. … Someone espousing these bigoted views should not have access to classified information or sit on congressional committees such as the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

It continues, “At the ACLJ, we’re fully engaged in the battle to defend Israel’s interests and the Jewish people from these kinds of hateful attacks. We’re fighting at the U.N. and the International Criminal Court. Now, we have to fight in our own Congress to defend Israel. Leadership in Congress refuses to fully address this issue. Take action with us. Fight back against anti-Semitism. Demand Reps. Omar and Tlaib be removed from their committees and censured.”

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Vivek Saxena

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