In a clearly not-attention-seeking move, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar took to social media on Wednesday to announce to her 2.9 million followers that there is “no way in hell” she will watch Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s address to the US Congress next week.
Posting a series of tweets, Omar gave her reasons as to why Herzog won’t be graced with her cheerful presence, like how she refuses to watch a speech from “a President whose country has banned [her] and denied [Rashida Tlaib] the ability to see her grandma,” and because his address comes as the Israeli government is “essentially putting a nail in the coffin of peace and a two-state solution.”
And just to show how serious her tweets are, Omar added — all in block capitals — that Herzog should not be invited because the Israeli government “BARRED THE FIRST TWO MUSLIM WOMEN ELECTED TO CONGRESS FROM VISITING THE COUNTRY.”
There is no way in hell I am attending the joint session address from a President whose country has banned me and denied @RashidaTlaib the ability to see her grandma. A thread??
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 13, 2023
Deranged ranting aside, the striking thing about Omar’s thread is just how confused she is about Israel.
For one thing, she claims that her fellow Democrat and “squad” member Rashida Tlaib was barred from visiting her grandmother in the West Bank. Fact check: Tlaib was allowed to see her grandmother but chose not to in order to protest Israel’s “oppressive conditions.”
While she appears to grasp that there is a difference between Israel’s prime minister and president, she suggests that Herzog is some kind of shadowy shill for Benjamin Netanyahu.
Of course, if Omar knew as much about Israel as she thinks she does, she would know that Herzog ran against Netanyahu as head of the Labor Party and has also been the key figure pushing for watering down the controversial judicial reforms, which she dubs a “coup to centralize power and undermine checks on their power.”
Naturally, Omar lambastes Israel for last week’s Jenin raid, which she notes “killed at least a dozen people,” while failing to mention the fact they were all members of terrorist organizations. She additionally blames the failure to establish a Palestinian state on Israel, apparently blissfully unaware of how many peace deals the Palestinians have turned their noses up at.
While Herzog is unlikely to miss Omar’s presence next week and she got the big dose of attention she craved, the saddest thing about Omar’s tweets is that they reveal her total ignorance about a country that is one of America’s most important allies. Depressing stuff indeed.
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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Surprise, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons
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