Can Ilhan Omar Criticize AIPAC?

Alex Edelman/CNP via ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

One of our new Muslim members of Congress has once again caught flack over her criticism of American policy toward Israel:

Freshman Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar ignited a new controversy on Sunday night when she suggested GOP support for Israel is driven by campaign donations from a prominent pro-Israel group. Omar singled out AIPAC, one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington, as the source of those donations.

Omar’s comments touched upon a long-running, and particularly ugly, thread of the anti-Semitic movement — that Jewish money fuels backing for Israel in the United States and elsewhere. A freshman Democrat, Max Rose of New York, said, “Congresswoman Omar’s statements are deeply hurtful to Jews, including myself.”

There’s a problem here. It is common, on both sides of the aisle, to claim that the opposition has been “bought” by lobbies of one kind or another. Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of being bought by Wall Street because of the speeches she gave to big banking groups. Republicans accuse Democrats of being bought by Planned Parenthood. Democrats accuse Republicans of being bought by the NRA. And everyone accuses both parties of being bought by the defense industry.

In all these cases, the defense is the same: These groups didn’t buy my vote. They contributed to my campaign because I already support them.

In nearly all cases, both are true. Members aren’t literally being bought. They really did believe in these causes to begin with. If I were running for Congress, I’d be delighted to get support and campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood. At the same time, there’s little question that lobbyist money goes a long way toward putting golden handcuffs in place. If the NRA or Planned Parenthood or whoever gets into trouble for crossing a line, they can count on vigorous support in Congress anyway. That’s due largely to money.

None of this should be slightly controversial. The idea that money drives politics is so commonplace that you’d be laughed at for denying it. Of course money makes a difference.

But that leaves us with a problem. It is entirely correct that the idea of Jewish money controlling the world is an old antisemitic trope. At the same time, there’s no question that Jewish money is deployed in defense of Israel in the form of US campaign contributions. And there’s no question that everyone believes money drives politics.

So is this something Ilhan Omar is allowed to say because it’s a commonplace observation? Or is she not allowed to say it because it’s an old antisemitic trope? And does the answer depend on the fact that she’s Muslim and a frequent critic of Israel?

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate