Posted on 03/09/2019 10:51:30 AM PST by Kaslin
New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman had some choice words for Rep. Ilhan Omar after the recently elected congresswoman has displayed antisemitic rhetoric during her short tenure in Congress via her comments about Israel and big money in politics. Friedman said Rep. Omar had a "perfect" opportunity to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews but instead has opted to be a "bridge destroyer" because she has not offered "constructive" criticism.
"Ilhan Omar represents, I believe, the largest Jewish community in the whole upper Midwest...She also represents a Somali immigrant community that have come to our city and enriched it...She was perfectly poised to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews, between Arabs and Israelis and rather than that she has come to be a bridge destroyer,” Friedman told the host.
“She was perfectly poised to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews, between Arabs and Israelis. ... She has come to be a bridge destroyer,” New York Times columnist Tom Friedman tells @smerconish about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial Israel comments https://t.co/msphDlebuV pic.twitter.com/sqIzxmCEWI— CNN (@CNN) March 9, 2019
Friedman made it known he was not necessarily bashing Omar for criticism of Israel nor foreign policy, but the way in which she went about it.
"Do you want to make a point? Or do you want to make a difference? Do you want to be constructive or destructive?...There are constructive ways to be critical of AIPAC or this administration right now...But when you come in and start throwing around these tropes about dual allegiance, about Israel and jews hypnotizing people, no one is going to believe you're innocent here because you are not being constructive. And when you come from this district that is such a strong Jewish and Muslim population, where you're set up to be a bridge builder and all you do is be a bridge destroyer then you are on my criticism list," Friedman said.
As noted by Matt yesterday, Democratic leadership has opted instead to believe that Rep. Omar is not antisemitic, but simply an idiot who does not understand what she is saying. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently dismissed Rep. Omar's remarks, saying, "The incident that happened with, I don't think our colleague is anti-Semitic, I think she has a different experience in the use of words, doesn't understand that some of them are fraught with meaning, that she, what, didn't realize."
Any jew that voted for her is an idiot and a traitor
There was a bridge between Muslims and Jews? It must have been the Brooklyn bridge some shyster sold them.
///////////////////////////////
Funny one.
The guy who took their money was black, with jug ears that stuck out and was a really good talker with a strong Kenyan accent. He demanded cash. His enforcer was a mannish looking muscular woman (we think) in a sleeveless dress, with her arms folded. She said to the man “Let me hold the cash. After Soros gets his cut we’re still rich.”
Judaism and Christianity have been mongrelized by many different interpretations of Christianityand Judaism.
Islam is different because the Koran is believed to be the word of God given to Muhammad thru the angel Gabriel.
Muhammad is considered to be God's messenger and his examples of how to implement Islam are to be followed.
There is little or no room for interpretation, as there are in other religions.
If you want to drift from the basicsof Islam , you are a Muslim heretic and no better then us Kafirs, who are to be subjugated converted or killed.-Tom
She should have been deported years ago
excellent point
She and her donors as well as the rat party have pulled the wool over the GOP’s eyes as well as ours. She and the rats have managed to ride the Trojan horse through the gate. By starting this sh## storm of anti Semitism the rats so conveniently introduce a bill not for anti Semitism only but a bill that include Muslims and Islam. Now they are covered by a resolution that allows them to accuse anyone speaking out about the truth of this murderous so called religion and its invaders to a crime punishable by arrest, jail or law suits. Next up sharia law, just take a look over the pond at Sweden and the UK
That one was published in 2005. He followed it in 2008 with “Flat, Brown, and Stinky”. No, wait, that’s a cow pie. Maybe it was “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”, same thing.
They are all Semites.
really?
That bridge has always been totally illusory. People who try to cross it drown when they fall into the gulf below it.
Going from being a cultural Muslim to violent jihad is something as random and common as a secular Jew becoming Sabbath observant and keeping kosher, or a cultural Christian becoming born again.
The difference is that neither Jewish nor Christian piety requires violence, and clergy advocating violence are lone kooks. Not so Islam.
True! He also looks just lazy in all aspects of his being.
The Democrats want power, and see themselves CONTROLLING everyone and everything. Period
“For those alive, remember who the targets are. They are not the riotous pissy cowards of Antifa, nor the uneducated indoctrinated students nor the “gimme-dats”. We all know who they are.”
Guess I missed the briefing. Who exactly are the targets?
Thomas Friedman is surprised? That’s because TF is a leftist idealog. He has blinders on if he thinks the Jewish & Muslim wings of the Democrat party are ever going to join hands and sing Kumbaya.
bookmark
“Omars” are what we get when we give an entire nation (Somalia in this case) a free-pass with refugee status. Not saying we shouldn’t do it, but we also shouldn’t be surprised when the reduced scrutiny results in people like her slipping into the country. Either Omar is a first-class con-artist or her rhetoric fairly represents the citizens in her district. I’m betting on the latter.
Yes. I’m mostly Irish. I’m embarrassed by the people my fellow Irish-Americans have elected to public office over the years.
Are you always giving up so easy?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.