'Ilhan Omar's hypocrisy on Iran sanctions reveals her anti-Israel bias'

Omar has slammed Trump for imposing sanctions upon the Iranian regime, yet was happy to introduce a House resolution in support of the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduces Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S., December 13, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/ELIZABETH FRANTZ)
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduces Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S., December 13, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS/ELIZABETH FRANTZ)
Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has revealed her bias against Israel and America once again in her zeal to condemn economic sanctions placed on Iran by President Donald Trump, political analyst Moshe Hill has said.
In an op-ed written for JNS.org, Hill highlighted Omar's recent tweets condemning the increased sanctions placed upon the Iranian regime this week by Trump following the Iranian missile strike on an American military base in Iraq which resulted in the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet in Tehran.
“This makes no sense,” Omar Tweeted. “Sanctions are economic warfare. They have already caused medical shortages and countless deaths in Iran. You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response!”
This is not the first time Omar has criticized the Trump administration for placing sanctions on rogue foreign powers, Hill pointed out.
In January 2019, Omar slammed Trump after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced sanctions on Venezuela following the decision of the country's president Nicolás Maduro to ignore a democratic election result and turn power over to Juan Guaidó instead. The sanctions were "nothing more than economic sabotage designed to force regime change by starving the very people we claim to be helping," she tweeted in outrage, adding "We should support dialogue, not a coup!”
And again, in October, Omar called out proposed sanctions on Turkey for incursions into Syria as “a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster.”
However, Hill says, she seems to have forgotten her own support for economic sanctions when it suits her. "Despite all the admonishments that sanctions are “economic warfare” that harms the people of a country, not the government, she has been a vocal proponent of the antisemitic Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement," he wrote.
Despite reassuring Jewish voters in her district during her election that she opposed BDS, Omar sponsored House Resolution 496, which Hill describes as a "pro-BDS resolution disguised as a free speech issue."
"Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad," the text of the resolution declares, before affirming the rights of Americans to participate in boycotts "at home and abroad."
When quizzed over her apparently hypocritical stance on the Iran sanctions, Omar told a reporter: “The BDS movement is a movement that is driven by the people. The sanctions on Iran, are sanctions that are being placed to create maximum pressure by a government. That’s very different.”

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Yet the BDS own website states: "BDS aims to end international support for Israeli violations of international law by forcing companies, institutions and governments to change their policies.”
Omar was questioned on Twitter last October about her selective support for boycotts, finally responding: “Not all sanctions are alike, some sanctions economically devastate a country and ultimately only harm its citizens, I am never for those.”
"Which sanctions don’t ultimately harm citizens?" Hill asked, adding: "The purpose of sanctions is to incentivize citizens to pressure their own governments! Once again, Omar is either lying, or has no clue what she is talking about."
"Ilhan Omar has a well-documented history of siding with despots and dictators and against Israel and America," he concluded. "She has been wrong on every foreign policy issue. Meanwhile, she sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It’s easy to call her antisemitic, anti-American and a detriment to our government and society. The hard part is influencing and educating the voters in her district so they vote her out."


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