Somalia-born Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN), notorious for her antisemitic sentiments, was ripped online after she accused former President Donald Trump of antisemitism while being a featured guest on the subject despite her personal history of antisemitic rhetoric.
Appearing on MSNBC’s The Mehdi Hasan Show on Sunday night, Omar, addressing the former president’s recent remarks suggesting American Jews be more appreciative of all he had done for Israel while president, called out Republican “hypocrisy.”
“The hypocrisy of the Republicans is blatantly clear, as they are not rushing out to condemn the former president who, knowingly, repeatedly invokes dual loyalty tropes that are harmful and dangerous,” she said.
Noting that antisemitism “is on the rise and all of us have a responsibility to condemn it,” the Minnesota Muslim congresswoman, who has been accused on multiple occasions of antisemitism, called for condemnations of the former president’s remarks.
“To continue to have someone as the former president with his platform continuously speaking to his white supremacist base in such a language — it’s very scary and dangerous and we have to condemn it in the strongest ways possible,” she said.
In response, many took to social media to highlight the irony of Omar speaking out against antisemitism.
“Up next, Vladimir Putin will talk to Mehdi about the importance of international law in a nuclear world,” quipped journalist and national security expert Eli Lake.
“You (and Rashida) are the biggest instigators of Jew hatred and antisemitic conspiracies in [the] US government,” wrote columnist Emily Schrader.
“You and Mehdi both have ZERO right to speak about antisemitism when YOUVE SPARKED MUCH OF THE RISE YOU MENTION,” she added. “You are absolutely sickening.”
“This is comedy gold – you two condemning antisemitism!” tweeted StopAntisemitism, a watchdog group dedicated to fighting antisemitic incitement.
“Don’t ever speak for us or utter a word about us @IlhanMN, you’re the Jew hater who accused us of dual loyalty among other tropes saying ‘I want to talk about the political influence in this country (Jews) that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country (Israel),’” wrote political commentator Fred Menachem.
“All they’re missing here is Al Sharpton, the pogromist who has a show on that network,” wrote media correspondent Logan Ratick.
“Mehdi and Ilhan are two of the most public, unrepentant perpetrators of antisemitism. This condemnation isn’t genuine, they simply saw a perfect opportunity to: 1) Politically gain through posturing against Trump 2) Let themselves off the hook for their own antisemitism,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Ilhan Omar? This is like having Xi Jin Ping on to talk about threats to free speech,” wrote another.
“Having @IlhanMN on your show to scold us about antisemitism, specifically – dual loyalty tropes- is pretty ironic. Is this a joke?” asked a Twitter user. “She earned her congressional chops early in her career by spewing naked antisemitism, in the form of dual loyalty tropes!”
“Was David Duke unavailable?” the user added.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have absolutely zero interest in an antisemite’s opinion on antisemitism,” another wrote another.
“@IlhanMN repeatedly peddles her own antisemitic tropes, and then has the audacity to act like an ally? No thanks,” the user added.
On Sunday, former President Donald Trump, whose daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish, expressed criticism of the refusal of American Jews to appreciate his strong support for the Jewish State and the actions he took on its behalf.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the former president stated that no other U.S. president had done more for Israel than he had, though “surprisingly” the country’s Evangelicals “are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.”
However, the former president — who moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, cut funding to the Palestinians, exited the catastrophic Obama-led Iran deal, and recognized Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights — argued that Jews living in Israel “are a different story.”
“[H]ighest approval rating in the World, could easily be [Israel’s] P.M.!” he wrote.
“U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!” he added.
Despite some condemnations of his remarks in the media, many noted that Trump’s comments were not antisemitic at all.
Calling the comment “fair,” Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak agreed with its content.
“This is fair comment by Trump, and is not — contrary to the sick left media — antisemitic,” he wrote. “You will hear it from many Jews as well: thank God for evangelicals because our liberal Jewish establishment leaders do next to zero to help Israel.”
“Yes, we do have to get our act together,” he added.
“Most Orthodox Jews vote Republican & support Trump,” wrote conservative YouTuber Yaakov Strasberg. “The less one has to do with Judaism or religion in general, the further Left they tend to be. It’s not anti-Semitic.”
“The more that you idiots call everything anti-Semitic, the more actual anti-Semitism is downplayed,” he added.
“Note to Twitter libs: It is not anti-Semitic for Trump to say American Jews should care about Israel before nations trying to destroy Israel do so,” wrote writer and blogger “Bonchie.”
“You may not like it. You may think Trump is stupid. But making everything ‘anti-Semitic’ is downplaying real antisemitism,” Bonchie added.
Trump’s post came days after the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) announced it would honor the former president, calling him the “best friend Israel ever had in the White House.”
Omar has a history of controversy, having been accused repeatedly of being both antisemitic and anti-American.
Last year, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) blasted Omar in June after the congresswoman equated the United States and Israel to Hamas terrorists and the Taliban, claiming she was unfit to serve in Congress.
“Omar is an antisemite who hates America and hates American troops,” he said. “She has no place serving in Congress.”
In 2019, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended Omar, telling reporters that while Omar had made several anti-Jewish remarks, she had not been “intentionally antisemitic.”
Omar also shared an antisemitic cartoon by an artist who participated in Iran’s Holocaust denial contest on her Instagram account on Friday, according to Forward editor Batya Ungar-Sargon.
After Omar was accused of antisemitism for posting several tweets suggesting that members of Congress supported Israel because they had been paid to do by pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), then-President Trump told reporters that she should be “ashamed” of what she had said.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.