John Nichols, the National Affairs Correspondent at The Nation magazine, is one of the best political reporters in America. He knows more about grass-roots organizing across the country than almost anyone else. But his latest article, on today’s primary challenge to Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, has one serious omission; he leaves out the huge role that elements of the pro-Israel lobby are playing in the effort to unseat her.
Most of Nichols’s report is a characteristically informed and passionate endorsement of Rep. Omar. He enumerates her enthusiastic advocacy on a wide range of progressive issues, including her co-sponsorship of the Make Billionaires Pay Act, where she (and Sen. Bernie Sanders) are demanding tax hikes for the super wealthy to start paying for the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Nichols’s article has almost nothing to say about Israel-Palestine. He has one solitary sentence, in which he notes only that, “She has helped foreground a national conversation on Palestinian rights and the U.S.-Israeli relationship.”
No doubt plenty of people would like Ilhan Omar removed from Congress. But it is pro-Israel forces that have donated $2 million to her opponent, Antone Melton-Meaux. Public records show that among the Melton-Meaux campaign’s biggest donors are the pro-Israel America PAC, which has given him $500,000, and NORPAC, which coughed up another $350,000. In total, the challenger has raised about $4 million, so the pro-Israel donors, few of whom apparently live in Omar’s Congressional district, account for half of his war chest.
Melton-Meaux’s campaign website praises Israel, calling it a “beacon of liberal democracy.” He keeps his donors even more happy by adding:
Movements such as Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel (BDS) only serve to further the conflict, elevate the violence, and harm those they seek to help. That is why I will always oppose BDS.
The good news is that Ilhan Omar, who has supported BDS, does not seem to be in great danger of losing today. Polls show her with a commanding lead, and she raised $4.2 million, most of it in small donations. Still, she had to spend time pursuing contributions and campaigning against an opponent who, without the pro-Israel support, would surely have been considerably weaker.
And if a progressive magazine missed the pro-Israel connection, how can we expect that mainstream centrist corporate media will report it?
P.S. Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is not so squeamish. A report today by Amir Tibon notes straightforwardly that the donations to Ilhan Omar’s opponent include
a direct attempt by organizations and Political Action Committees such as “Pro-Israel America,” “Friends of Israel “ and NORPAC (an organization affiliated with AIPAC) to drive Omar out of Washington.
And Alex Kane at 972 is also on the mark: “Israel lobby faces off with Palestinian rights movement in Ilhan Omar primary. The Democratic race for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District has become the latest proxy war over the future of U.S. policy toward Israel.”
May Ilhan Omar win!
“… if a progressive magazine missed the pro-Israel connection, how can we expect that mainstream centrist corporate media will report it?”
North, as a native English speaker and a journalist, you know that “to miss” is unintentional.
You should also know that concepts like “progressive” or “centrist” being exclusively in the eye of the beholder, the whole point of your article should be an attempt to explain that glaring omission — for example, by indicating what kind of “progress” is that defended by “progressive” The Nation. Lacking which it remains pointless.
How could they report on it without pointing out the glaringly obvious fact that pro-Israeli Jewish groups are pouring millions into primary races to defeat members of ‘The Squad’ and representatives who support Palestinian human rights? Even more so in defeating Omar.
The mainstream media (right, left and center) were at the head of the crowd with buckets of pitch to tar and feather Rep. Omar when she pointed out the worst kept secret in politics. That support for Israel is “all ‘bout the Benjamins“. They jumped on the anti-semitism bandwagon the instant she rightly questioned elected non-Jewish American officials’ loyalty to their oath of office by putting Israel’s interest ahead of their own American constituents and the very Constitution they swore to defend and uphold.
To report on the millions flowing to the likeS of Melton-Meaux based on one single issue, Israel, would be nothing short of an admission of guilt and years of complicity by the exact same media covering this race.
This was printed today in Jerusalem Post:
“Jewish support for Ilhan Omar?In an op-ed published on Medium, one Jewish voter says, “she is exactly the kind of leader” the Jewish people need. …
… Omar is facing off against Antone Melton-Meaux for Minnesota’s fifth district.
However, just a few days before the primary, a surprising op-ed appeared on the blogging platform Medium: a Jewish Omar supporter from her Minnesota district, Jeremy Iggers, not only says he is supporting Omar but explains why he thinks she is good for the Jews.
His piece, which is tied to the “We’re Jewish and We Support Ilhan Omar” petition, has garnered a couple of hundred signatures from local residents, “with more people signing on every day,” according to Iggers.
Iggers explained that the growing rift between the American Jewish community and the State of Israel has brought many Jews to prioritize new notions and values that correspond with those practiced by Omar.
“… Jews are facing a second reckoning — questioning our cherished myths about Israel and coming to grips with its reality of racism and intolerance, the brutality of the occupation, and the profound corruption of its leaders,” he wrote.
He added that some Jews simply don’t feel like they should grant automatic support to the only Jewish state in the Middle East simply because it calls itself Jewish.
Moreover, he said, core Jewish values like social and economic justice and welcoming the refugee have become interchangeable with Omar’s personal story and actions, and seem to be more foreign in Israel’s reality today, at least from the perspective of some American Jews. …” (continued)
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/jewish-support-for-ilhan-omar-638063#/
“… Finally, he said that it is also because a growing number of US Jews oppose West Bank settlements and believe that Israel needs “tough love.”
“By taking on the Israel lobby, Ilhan Omar and Bernie [Sanders] and a few other brave souls have made possible a more honest conversation about Israel. That’s the part that is really good for the Jews — and also very difficult,” Iggers wrote.“That conversation couldn’t be more timely. At a time when many Americans are facing up to painful truths about our country’s history of slavery and genocide, and many Minneapolitans are facing up to our liberal city’s entrenched patterns of structural racism and deep inequalities, Jews are facing a second reckoning — questioning our cherished myths about Israel and coming to grips with its reality of racism and intolerance, the brutality of the occupation, and the profound corruption of its leaders.”
“Ilhan Omar has condemned the occupation, but she has also called for a just solution that makes it possible for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security,” Iggers said. “Her opponent… doesn’t even mention the occupation or the building of settlements as obstacles to peace.”
He concluded that, “Some people criticize Ilhan Omar for being divisive. But she is exactly the kind of leader John Lewis had in mind when he said, ‘Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.’”
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/jewish-support-for-ilhan-omar-638063#/
Seth Rogen might want to go ahead and sign…