A 2018 interview of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Al Jazeera resurfaced recently on the Christian Broadcasting Network in light of a recent war of words that Ilhan and three other House freshmen, aka “The Squad” are having with President Trump.
Trump’s comments are, rightly, reported on by the media and condemned, but comments that Omar has made are often overlooked by journalists who have spent more time fawning over the first Somali-American woman elected to Congress than they have reported on her questionable past. The fact that we missed this video until a year-and-a-half later is evidence of that.
To say nothing about her anti-semitism which, thankfully, has received some attention, but is still is dismissed or downplayed by some on the left.
In the original interview, Upfront host Mehedi Hasan asks Omar, “A lot of conservatives, in particular, would say about the rise of Islamophobia is the result not of hate, but of fear. A legitimate fear they say of “jihadist terrorism” whether it is Fort Hood or San Bernardino or the recent truck attack in New York, what do you say to that?”
“I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within the country, and so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies that fight the radicalization of white men,” Omar answered.
Watch:
First off, her statement about white men causing most of the deaths in the United States is not even remotely true as you can see from the FBI’s 2017 stats on murder offenders.
Secondly, there is a national security interest and concern about Islamic terrorism. They mention three episodes, but neglect 9/11 that killed almost 3000 Americans died “when some people did something.” They also neglected to bring up the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. You can also expand that worldwide to also include the London bombing, Nice truck attacks, Paris shootings, and Mumbai attacks, not to mention Islamic terrorist attacks that happen in the Middle East.
Does this mean all Muslims are terrorists? Absolutely not. Does this mean Muslim-Americans should have their civil rights violated? No. Does it mean you may get some extra attention if you are traveling or emigrating from a location known for extremism? Probably, sorry, not sorry. Law enforcement and counter-terrorism experts are also acutely aware of
If Presbyterians flew airplanes into buildings and committed suicide bombings, I guarantee there would be a focus on Presbyterians.
Also, the FBI already monitors white supremacist groups, and you will hear no complaints from me.
But to respond to a legitimate national security concern with a racist comment of her own? How is this different than anything President Trump has said that is deemed racist?
It’s not and