News/Commentary

‘I’m not racist, I’m just a complete idiot’: Ilhan Omar cites ignorance to explain past anti-Semtic remarks

January 30, 2023 | | Print Article

In addition to playing the victim, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) can now add playing dumb to her repertoire of defenses as her ousting from the House Foreign Affairs Committee put previous antisemitic remarks back in the spotlight.

(Video: CNN)

Sunday, the Minnesota congresswoman was joined by her fellow committee rejects, California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell who were bucked from the House Intelligence Committee by the new House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in a commiseration panel on CNN. Days after slamming the speaker as “racist, xenophobic and discriminatory” for her ousting, Omar had no qualms portraying herself as naive to the ways of the world when “State of the Union” host Dana Bash asked her about her history of antisemitic remarks.

“So when you apologized for the ‘all about the Benjamins’ comment, you said antisemitism is real and I’m grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes,” Bash began. “What did you learn?”

“A lot. I certainly did not or was not aware that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money,” Omar claimed. “That has been very enlightening part of this journey.”

“To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong,” she further argued about the 2019 incident after she was elected to Congress.

Of course, the story isn’t so simple as that as former managing director of public affairs and senior spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee Avi Mayer was glad to point out, sharing her clip and writing, “Ilhan Omar employed one antisemitic trope in 2012, after which she said [she] learned all about antisemitism ‘from Jewish orgs.’ She then employed another one in 2019. But she didn’t know there are tropes about Jews and money? Who believes this stuff?”

The original tweet from Omar he referenced read, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

Others were far less generous when they called out the congresswoman who has been alleged to have wed her own brother in a green card marriage for an attempt at playing stupid.

Omar’s playing at ignorance isn’t too far of a stretch considering her past displays of actual ignorance, such as her infamous take on the radical Islamic extremist terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that she referred to as “some people did something.”

As she continues to find herself in these indefensible positions, despite no lack of trying to do so on her part, others had a straightforward summation of her supposed unfamiliarity with the inappropriate subtext of her remarks.

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Kevin Haggerty
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