Tell the whole truth after you visit Israel, Rep. Omar.

Manipulative and/or ill-informed pronouncements from Ilhan Omar are not unusual.

Last March Rep. Omar stated, “CAIR was founded after 9/11” because “…all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” In fact CAIR was incorporated in 1994. Although CAIR claims to be the nation’s preeminent Muslim civil rights group, in 2017 CAIR claimed that it was a religious organization and therefore exempt from the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board rejected that argument.

Astonishingly, Rep. Omar, comparing Obama to Trump, stated, “One is human, the other is not,” while she seems untroubled that some CAIR leaders have been convicted of criminal activity. Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR-Texas, was convicted for making illegal computer shipments to Libya and Syria and conspiring to send money to Mousa Abu Marzook, an admitted Hamas leader. Randall (Ismail) Royer, once a communications specialist for CAIR, pled guilty to a weapons and explosives charge. Bassam Khafagi plead guilty to bank and visa fraud charges; at the time of his arrest, he was community affairs director of the CAIR.

Ms. Omar stated last year, in response to a question about Jihadi terrorism, “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 this 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 to fight the radicalization of white men.”  The United States is about 75 percent white, so it should surprise no one that whites are responsible for the largest percentage of violent crime. On the other hand, “if fear is the driving force of policies to keep America safe,” that fear might very well be a reasonable fear of Jihadi terrorist ideology, so Rep. Omar’s framing of her argument on the basis of skin color is a racist betrayal of everything the US stands for.

In 2014 and 2015, Rep. Omar was not legally married to Mr. Hirsi, the father of her children, but they filed taxes jointly in violation of Minnesota law. She was in fact legally married to a Mr. Elmi from 2012-2017. She also misused and had to repay campaign funds.

A politician who manipulates and does not tell the whole truth is a danger to this country, and Rep. Omar has a history of engaging in deceptive practices and statements while claiming to be a victim. Those helping to arrange her visit to Israel will no doubt keep this in mind.

Julia Lutch

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