White House Announces Efforts to Counter Anti-Semitism as Ilhan Omar Joins Bidens for Photo-Op

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre avoided giving us another display of her tongue-tied unpreparedness by issuing a written statement. “As President Biden has made clear,” she stated, “antisemitism has no place in America. All Americans should forcefully reject antisemitism – including Holocaust denial – wherever it exists.” In response, PJM’s Paula Bolyard tweeted: “Will the @WhiteHouse be investigating the rank anti-Semitism in the Democrat Party? (That’s a rhetorical question. I know the answer.)” Indeed, the answer is clear: also on Monday, a photo surfaced of Joe and Jill Biden, dressed to the nines, standing in front of a portrait of George Washington and between a couple of Christmas trees with the notoriously antisemitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu) and her latest husband, who is not her brother, Tim Mynett. So apparently antisemitism has no place in America, it just has a place in the House of Representatives. Antisemite Ilhan Omar stands gleefully smiling in the presence of POTUS, without a care in the world. THIS is how normalized Jew hatred has become in America. This bigot should be shunned at every turn, not posed with for holiday snapshots. pic.twitter.com/3p8a9XhQwN — StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 12, 2022 “The President,” Jean-Pierre announced, “is establishing an inter-agency group led by Domestic Policy Council staff and National Security Council staff to increase and better coordinate U.S. Government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States.” Great. So no doubt that would involve decisively repudiating the individual who tweeted back in 2012: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” You remember, Joe, don’t you? The one who claimed that support for Israel in the United States was “all about the Benjamins baby,” and charged that the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee paid American politicians to support Israel. Are you going to repudiate her? Even the House Democrat leadership called out Omar back in Feb. 2019, issuing a statement entitled “Democratic Leadership Statement on Anti-Semitic Comments of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.” It stated that “Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share. But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.” And now here it is December 2022, and the same Congresswoman Omar is standing with the president who has just declared that he is dedicating a new effort to fighting antisemitism. What’s wrong with this picture? Did someone’s palm get greased? Is it all about the benjamins? Some will note that Omar apologized for those old remarks, and so she can’t be accused of antisemitism now. But she has made more recent statements as well. On June 7, 2021, she even equated the U.S. and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban, tweeting: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice.” She equated the United States and Israel, both of which go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties, with jihad terror groups that target civilians and use them as human shields. So when Jean-Pierre noted that “the President has tasked the inter-agency group, as its first order of business, to develop a national strategy to counter antisemitism,” will that strategy include maybe screening the president’s guests for Christmas photo-ops? “This strategy,” Jean-Pierre explained, “will raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans, address antisemitic harassment and abuse both online and offline, seek to prevent antisemitic attacks and incidents, and encourage whole-of-society efforts to counter antisemitism and build a more inclusive nation.” Yeah, sure it will. Jean-Pierre’s words ring hollow, and Biden’s effort is revealed as more empty posturing, by the Omar photo-op. The intent to counter “Islamophobia” should also be carefully noted. The term “Islamophobia” is an illegitimate conflation of two distinct phenomena: vigilante attacks against innocent Muslims, which are never justified, and honest analysis of the motivating ideology of jihad terror, which is always necessary. No one supports attacks on innocent Muslims, but “Islamophobia” initiatives are used to shut down legitimate discourse about what causes jihad violence. This administration has already made it abundantly clear that it is not a supporter of the freedom of speech. Will this new antisemitism/Islamophobia initiative become a new pretext to restrict speech further? Don’t be surprised.