Democrats must denounce Louis Farrakhan and anti-Semitism
“These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral strength… It’s the wicked Jews, the false Jews…” — Louis Farrakhan, 2006.
This is the header on page 19 of David Mamet’s 2008 book “Bambi vs. Godzilla,” as the famous writer examines the topic of “Jews in Show Business.”
David Mamet.
Mamet is one of the greatest modern playwrights, screenwriter and creator. He’s hardly the bastion of conservative voices and he was pointing out the dangerous language from the Leader of the Nation of Islam.
Farrakhan made headlines again this week by offering his approval of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic remarks, telling the young Minnesota rep that she “you have nothing to apologize for.”
Omar tweeted on Feb. 10 that congressional support of Israel was “all about the Benjamins, baby,” a reference to a 1997 rap song by Puff Daddy. When Batya Ungar-Sargon, the opinion editor of The Forward newspaper, asked Omar who she thought “is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” the congresswoman answered: “AIPAC!”
President Trump called on Omar to “resign from Congress or … certainly resign from the [House] foreign affairs committee.” The chairman of that committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said it was “shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of ‘Jewish money,'” while House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called the comments “deeply disappointing and disturbing.”
What was Omar’s punishment?
Nothing.
Republicans accuse the Democrats of being hypocrites on hate speech, just yelling “Trump!” anytime someone points out the racism, prejudice or uncomfortable hatred infecting their party.
A year ago, news dropped that a photo suppressed a photo of President Obama with Farrakhan: “If the picture was exposed, it could still be a deal breaker for Obama. I felt that there was an ambition that black people had about Obama being elected president. I did not want to be the instrument of his downfall.”
That pic was from 2005, old news right?
Nope.
Eric Holder posed with Farrakhan last September (read HERE) as no one seemed to have a problem with the Jews hater speaking at Aretha Franklin’s funeral, taking pictures with Bill Clinton as The Nation of Islam handed out free copies of its newspaper, The Final Call, which featured a Franklin tribute on the cover.
Farrakhan followed with a statement a month later, October 2018, that he was “not an anti-Semite” but an “anti-termite.”
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said that the analogy “comes right out of the Nazi playbook” and that Farrakhan has been explicit about his hatred of Jews.
“He’s blamed the Jews for all the problems of the world. He’s called Judaism a religion of Satan,” Dershowitz said.
Hate crimes against Jews are skyrocketing and we are letting the hatred spread and fester. Dershowitz pointed to politics as the reason for the blind eye.
“I think there’s a fear of losing the base,” he explained of Democrats at the time. “There are many voters in some parts of the country Louis Farrakhan and some areas could become swing voters and people don’t want to lose their extremes.”
He added that the tendency is not one-sided.
“We’re seeing it on the Republican side, too,” Dershowitz said. “Some Republicans refuse to condemn the alt-right because they want them as voters. Every American has to get together and say we don’t want haters to vote for us,” he concluded. “We want to make sure they are universally condemned. We don’t want them on our side.”
For America’s sake, let’s hope Dershowitz is wrong and America speaks out.
