Let's be honest. Omar wants to talk about Palestinian Treatment. That's why she gets shut down.

[PatrickforO]

68. Bill Maher had some criticism for both our party and for Omar

last night.

He pointed out that our party wastes lots of time and life force attacking each other when we ought to be focused on a) how the platform will help the American people and b) the increasing revelations around Trump's utter criminality. I thought that was an interesting point - it is a shortcoming in this party to eat our own.

Next, he had an MSNBC guy on who was Jewish and he was sticking up for Omar, which I have been too, because Israel is over the top in the way they treat the Palestinian minority that lives there. The guy did say that Omar should ix-nay on the 'dual allegiance' comments because that was how the right-wing in Germany talked through the 20s and 30s. Which is true, if you've read your history.

Now, here's my take: Omar is scary to all the old white guys who have taken money from AIPAC over the years and made Israel a 'sacred cow,' so we love them no matter what they do. That's because she is a) black, b) Muslim, and c) wears a scary hijab.

That isn't right. Because this apartheid set of policies Israel has to the Palestinians under Netanyahu, who is definitely a right wingnut, has got to be debated.

And, to criticize Israel's policies, or AIPAC's tactics as a US lobby, to my mind is fair game, and certainly doesn't make one an anti-Semite. If any country with whom we are allied oppresses its minorities, then we need to be adding that to the debate concerning our policy toward them. Examples are the Sunnis, the Kurds, the Armenians, the Palestinians.

Our foreign policy actions are also, or should be, open for debate. These forever wars have got to stop, but we have to find a way not to leave a big vacuum when we pull out. Complicated stuff.

But Omar, in my opinion, is not an anti-Semite.