Momlevinex

As a progressive Jewish woman who criticizes the Israeli government often, I found Omar’s comments quite frightening. Jews have often been accused of dual loyalties. Of course Omar can criticize Israel. But when she does so by invoking age old anti-Semitic stereotypes, it makes my want to take my family and hide in the basement. Sunny is right, Omar is being singled out when there is reprehensible rhetoric coming from the right. But to say Omar is being shut down for “merely” criticizing Israel is missing the point. It’s not just about questioning Israel’s legitimacy, it’s also about demonization of Israel and the big bad Jews. Elizabeth Warren can manage to criticize Netanyahu without invoking Jewish stereotypes. Omar should not get a pass on it. I will stand up and scream against the Republicans for the disgusting Islamophobic poster accusing Omar of being a terrorist. It is horrifying and I will always defend Omar against it. So why is it not okay to defend against anti-Jewish tropes?

Plenty of Zionists, myself included, support a two state solution and vehemently disagree with Netanyahu. That is what Weiss is talking about. Just because you think of “zionists” in a certain way doesn’t make your definition factually accurate. Zionism is the support of the Jewish homeland. Bari Weiss said “criticism comes from people who “try and claim that their criticism is just about the state of Israel...when it’s really about saying that of all the flawed states of the world...only one doesn’t have the right to exist, and that is the Jewish state.” She is talking about legitimacy of the state, not the treatment of Palestinians. It’s a complicated issue, but to say that one can never be a liberal Zionist is just not true. The Zioness movement and J Street exist for a reason. If you have “no problem with Jews or the Jewish state,” but have problems with Netanyahu, you’d fit right in.

Very upsetting that Tamika Mallory used very careful language to avoid having to condem Farrakkhan’s Anti-Semitic statements. And, it was even more disappointing to see that none of the ladies at the table pushed back on it with the exception of Megan. And, for the record, I am NOT a Megan fan. At all.