A spokesperson for US Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Wednesday accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) of putting the congresswoman's life at risk with their latest sponsored attack ad on social media.
The ad in question was posted to Facebook and included a picture of Omar, on which was written "For Ilhan Omar, there is no difference between America and the Taliban. Between Israel and Hamas. Between Democracies and terrorists. Tell Rep. Omar: Condemn terrorists, not America." The picture itself was captioned "Stand WITH America. Stand AGAINST Terrorists."
Taking to Twitter, Omar's communication director Jeremy Slevin said that the "language AIPAC uses in paid ads to smear and vilify @IlhanMN is virtually identical to the language used in death threats she gets. Make no mistake: AIPAC is putting Rep. Omar's life at risk with repeated Islamophobic attack ads."
The tweet included a screenshot of the AIPAC ad, as well as a screenshot of a tweet where Omar shares a death threat she received.
"It shouldn't have to be stated, but baselessly linking Muslim-Americans to terrorism is *the* textbook example of Islamophobia and is routinely used to silence advocacy for Palestinian human rights," Slevin added.
Several notable figures came out in agreement with Slevin, with IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger tweeting that AIPAC's ad was "despicable" and fellow Democratic Congresswoman and "Squad" member Rashida Tlaib saying "I am so sick of this s**t."
AIPAC, however, fired back at Slevin. "Your baseless attack on us can't deflect from @Ilhan's attack on America and Israel," the lobbying organization tweeted. "It is outrageous for Rep. Omar to put the US and Israel on the same level as the Taliban and Hamas. There is no moral equivalence between democratic allies and the terrorists who target them."
Responding to Tlaib, AIPAC said "So are we, Congresswoman. Inciting hate by demonizing Israel and spreading vicious, dangerous lies about our democratic ally Israel doesn’t advance the prospects for peace."
The AIPAC ad was referring to a tweet made by Omar on June 7, which contained a video of a conversation between herself and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during which she asked him what mechanisms are in place in the US for victims of alleged crimes against humanity in Israel, Palestine, and Afghanistan to seek justice.
At the time, Omar was hit with severe criticism for her comparisons.
Superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District Joel M. Petlin tweeted her in reply that "when you can't tell the difference between democratic countries that operate justice courts under the rule of law, and a registered terrorist organization that executes dissenters in the streets, you have no business sitting as a representative of Americans in the US Congress."
Even
Hamas issued a condemnation of Omar's remarks, saying that while they appreciated her attempt at defending the Palestinian people, they "deplored the unfair combination" between them and Israel.
However, in
an interview with CNN's Jake Trapper, Omar doubled down on her remarks and said she didn't regret what she said, though she did later clarify that she did not equate terrorist organizations with democratic nations, and later said that insinuating that she was covering for terrorists was Islamophobic.
Omar has in the past been accused of antisemitic behavior. Omar is a staunch advocate of the Palestinian people and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, the latter of which has been recognized by the US as being antisemitic.
When Trapper asked if Omar understood why some of her Jewish colleagues in Congress might see her remarks as antisemitic, she said that they "haven't been partners in justice."
“I’ve welcomed any time my colleagues asked to have a conversation to learn from them [and] for them to learn from me,” replied Omar. “I think it’s really important for these members to realize that they haven’t been partners in justice.
“They haven’t been engaging in seeking justice around the world and I think I will continue to do that,” she said. “It is important for me as someone who knows what it feels like to experience injustice in ways that many of my colleagues don’t.”
Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.
