Can Ilhan Omar Criticize AIPAC?

Alex Edelman/CNP via ZUMA

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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?

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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