Anti-Semitic

anti–Semitic /ˌænˌtaɪsəˈmɪtɪk/ adjective
: feeling or showing hatred of Jewish people

Merriam-Webster Learners Dictionary

Folks - last night, in front of a conservative Jewish audience took a shot at Ilhan Omar, the congresswoman from Minnesota. He indicated she "doesn't like Israel", with the implication through the speech that not liking the actions of the Israeli government or the political policies of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC - a pro-Israeli expansion lobby) is anti-Semitic. He went on to say that Democrats are harboring anti-Semitism within the party.

This is not true - it's blatantly false. Ilhan Omar is not an Anti-Semite, nor are Democrats.

Yes - Israel has legitimate concerns about the safety of their people. But many of us recognize this is done at the expense of the Palestinian people in the region and that you cannot subjugate and kill your way to peace.

People who are against those policies are not anti-Semitic or anti-Israel (which are two completely different things). They are perhaps anti-violence. They are likely anti-poverty and anti-discrimination.

To twist the racist term of anti-Semitism to meet the political objective of winning conservative Jews to the Republican party is actually racist itself. It's asking conservative Jews to grasp the imagery of a hateful group and apply it to people who have never made or insinuated any such hate.

I'm Jewish by birth. I love my Jewish family and friends. I'm for equality in Israel for all of their people, Jewish and otherwise. I do not agree with many policies of the Israeli state.

Ilhan Omar is a Muslim. She has watch her fellow Muslims subjugated by the Israeli government and she is against those policies too. Her much touted comment "It's all about the Benjamin’s, baby" was a comment on the political money that is funneled into congress to promote the pro-Israel expansion policies by AIPAC - it was not ant-Semitic. But because Omar is Muslim, it's easy to link stereotypes and push an image of hatred, rather than allow people to understand her legitimate concerns.

We have to see through the ploy.

Ultimately the President and AIPAC threaten the Jewish people, because they are linking Jewishness with racist activity - the subjugation of others for racial and religious purity. If we go back in history and look at when this happened before to Jews - to the Spanish inquisition, to the Holocaust - and others, like Apartheid in South Africa - we see that the Israeli government is pushing for racial inequality.

That's not anti-Semitic. That's anti-racist. That's anti-poverty, anti-subjugation, anti-war.

The presidents actions have been about using his endorsement to help leaders in Israel that will help get him re-elected. Just remember, he is using bigotry to win. He's counting on a part of the Jewish population to racially hate in order to win. And if we do that, we have truly lost our way. We, of all peoples, should be sensitive to racial inequality. To the cause of peoples who are treated wrong for who they are, for where they are. We need to reach out with love. With caring. With inclusive policy.

It is the only way to wipe out hundreds of years of violence in the region. You cannot kill your way to peace. You must be peaceful in order to have peace. You must work, you must compromise, you must be strong against forces on both sides that will want to continue the hate - there's political profit in hate. But it's the people on both sides that die. The only way to get there is to stop. That's not anti-Semitic. It's a hope for all the peoples of the region, regardless of religion or race.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/aipac-congress-democrats.html