Skirts too short? Slate has 'sunk to a new low' with this garbage take on Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitism

We’ve seen plenty of crappy defenses of Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitism, but this one from Slate deserves special recognition. Because unlike so many of the others out there tapdancing around their obvious point, this take just comes right out and says it: It’s the Jews’ fault.

If Israel’s most devoted U.S. backers are so concerned over dual loyalty smears, they should think more carefully about how they’re encouraging them. https://t.co/5xD4aOgvGq

— Slate (@Slate) March 5, 2019

Jordan Weissmann thinks poor, bumbling Omar “has stumbled into a controversy over anti-Semitism and Israel” because she just didn’t know any better:

I find Omar’s rhetoric tone-deaf, but haven’t seen compelling evidence that she has any real animus toward Jews. The more likely explanation for these statements is that she’s an inexperienced politician who arrived at the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia at age 12 and probably came of age in left-wing circles where vocal opposition to Israel was the norm, and there wasn’t a lot of thought given to words that Jews consider anti-Semitic dog whistles. Once the outrage crested last week, she could have shown a little sensitivity to people’s concerns and backed down. But I have trouble blaming her for not doing so.

He doesn’t have any trouble blaming the Jews, though. Here’s Weissmann’s conclusion:

But Omar’s not wrong to highlight just how difficult it is to question the U.S.-Israel relationship, and to want that to change. “It’s almost as every single time we say something,” she said moments before her allegiance remark, “our advocacy about ending oppression, or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get [labeled] something and that ends the discussion. Because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the proper debate about what is happening with Palestine.” While her approach has been somewhat counterproductive for the Jewish American left-wing activists who are more emboldened than ever to speak out about what is happening with Palestine, her willingness to throw herself into a highly fraught political issue and not back down is admirable. If Israel’s most devoted U.S. backers are really so concerned over dual loyalty smears, maybe they should think more carefully about how they’re encouraging them.

This is how the writer explains support for Israel: Money plus “the political muscle of Christian Zionists, geopolitical concerns, and, yes, the votes of a dwindling group of Israel-friendly Jews factor in too.” It’s all framed as manipulation or religious affinity, not principle https://t.co/81iABJTBLl

— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) March 5, 2019

Slate: American Jews are asking for it. https://t.co/G0TIzShWap

— Josh Offenhartz (@Johartz) March 5, 2019

A classic tale really.

— Andrew Rothstein (@ASRothstein) March 5, 2019

We should really stop obnoxiously provoking all those people who irrationally hate us.

— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) March 5, 2019

Slate somehow always manages to out-Slate itself, incredible.

— Josh Zampich (@JoshZampich) March 5, 2019

Slate is the worst

— Kabbalistic Village (@KabbVillage) March 5, 2019

The evidence for that being the case is pretty compelling.

Imagine if a major conservative publication had published a story saying “Steve King had a point about white nationalism”…

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) March 5, 2019