Rantz: After Seattle groups defend anti-Semite Ilhan Omar, she returns favor

Earlier this month, various local Seattle groups held an event to defend Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who I believe is anti-Semitic, apparently at the congresswomen’s behest. This weekend, Omar comes to Seattle for a fundraiser — on a Saturday, when orthodox Jews won’t be able to protest.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington (CAIR-WA) will host Omar (D-MN) for a fundraiser in Bellevue on May 25 as they hope for an “evening of conversation, inspiration, and strategizing on how we can best defend our community everyday while building power for 2020.” They’re having trouble selling out. They’ve repeatedly claimed “tickets are selling fast” but earlier this week tickets were still available.

CAIR, which recently “condemned Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s endorsement of Jerusalem as the site of the U.S. embassy to Israel,” seeks to normalize and mainstream Omar’s hate. On the CAIR-WA Facebook page, they criticized critics of Omar: “We KNOW the attacks against Rep. Ilhan Omar are rooted in Islamophobia, anti-black racism, and xenophobia.”

It’s always interesting to hear bigots tell Jews why we feel angry when we’re criticized for our religion. CAIR-WA “know” what’s up, after all. This is how you defend anti-Semitism in an intersectional world. Omar has been condemned by her own party for using anti-Semitic tropes to attack Jews and Israel. She doesn’t criticize Israeli policy; she criticizes Jews. She hates us.

The fundraiser comes after a somewhat bizarre revelation uncovered on the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. Community groups organized an anti-Semitic event last month in Seattle to defend Omar, using the same claim that criticism of her bigotry is the actual bigotry. One of the groups was the King County chapter of the NAACP. Their spokesperson said groups here were actually contacted by Omar’s office, asking them to host the event.

“What I would say to you is that I’m telling you the reason why we’re [NAACP KC Chapter] there, once again, her office reached out to our office,” Kela Hall told the Jason Rantz Show as we debated the appropriateness of defending Omar.

I asked her to clarify that Omar’s office reached out to them. Her reply: “Yes. What I’m telling you is the local organizations … they are in conversations with her office and that’s the reason why we’ve signed on to be able to assist.”

Less than a month later, she’s in town helping raise money for another group that’s defending her bigotry.

Though the event is held on a Saturday, which cuts down on Jewish participation in protests, some activists with Patriots of Washington will hold a rally outside the event.

My producer reached out to CAIR-WA with an invite to discuss the issue on this Jewish talk show host’s program. They didn’t return our request. We KNOW why.

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