The Democratic Inquisition has come after Ilhan Omar

 But strong popular resistance is foiling attempts to burn her at the political stake.
In the late 15th century, as Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I pushed to conquer territories in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule, they launched a religious tribunal which came to be known as the Spanish Inquisition.....

..... In this modern age, it would be nice (but naive) to think that we have put behind these times. Apparently, these medieval practices are still in use in the US Congress.....

... The new Inquisition comes after a watershed 2018 Congressional election swept into office a new progressive class of American politicians. Among its ranks are three remarkable women, Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who challenged the system, incumbents, and the Democratic machine to win landslide victories on truly progressive platforms....

... Tlaib and Omar have even openly supported the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Anyone familiar with the Israel lobby in Washington knew that the other shoe was bound to drop. And it didn't take Long.....

.... Ilhan Omar does not hate Jews or Israel. She has never said or written any such thing. Attacking one of the most powerful domestic US lobbies is not anti-Semitic. Supporting BDS is not anti-Semitic either. This non-violent movement advocating justice for Palestinians harbours no animus towards Jews. Its three demands for the right of return, full democratic rights for Palestinians in Israel, and an end to occupation have nothing to do with Jews per se.

The implied criticism of the Israeli status quo inherent in BDS activism does not constitute anti-Semitism....

... Today there is a countervailing force of progressive Democrats, Jews and non-Jews, who no longer take marching orders from the white, male, plutocrats of the Israel lobby. They have become strong enough not only to bring the likes of Omar to Congress but also to keep them there and grow their numbers....

article on aljazeera

There Is a Taboo Against Criticizing AIPAC — and Ilhan Omar Just Destroyed It

…..

“You see this napkin?” Rosen asked Goldberg. “In twenty-four hours, [AIPAC] could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin.”

I couldn’t help but be reminded of this anecdote after Rep. Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, was slammed by Democrats and Republicans alike over her suggestion, in a pair of tweets, that U.S. politicians back the state of Israel because of financial pressure from AIPAC (“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she declaimed). Was the flippant way in which she phrased her tweets a problem? Did it offend a significant chunk of liberal U.S. Jewish opinion? Did it perhaps unwittingly play into anti-Semitic tropes about rich Jews controlling the world? Yes, yes, and yes — as she herself has since admitted and “unequivocally” apologized for. But was she wrong to note the power of the pro-Israel lobby, to point a finger at AIPAC, to highlight — in her apology — “the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry”?.....

more on theintercept….