An open letter to Representative-Elect Ilhan Omar, from Dan Israel
An open letter to Representative-Elect Ilhan Omar - I am posting it publicly too, here on my blog and also on social media, but I also just emailed it to her office. Sorry/not sorry if anyone is offended by my views. Them's my views, and if you don't like 'em, well....there is always the "hide" button, or, if that is insufficient, the "unfriend" button. I am opinionated, and sometimes I feel the need to speak out. This is one of those times. I hope we can disagree and still be friends, and that you won't stop liking my music (if you do like it) just because you might disagree with me here. But I have to be me. This is part of who I am, and I feel very, very, very (that's 3 verys) strongly about this issue, so....yeah....
Here it is:
"Dear Representative-Elect Omar,
Congratulations on your historic election victory.
My name is Dan Israel, and I live in the 5th Congressional District, in St. Louis Park. I will put my address at the end of this email.
For 21 years, I worked for the nonpartisan Office of the Revisor of Statutes, in the State Office Building in St. Paul (my office was on the 7th floor, I imagine you probably occasionally visited my office during your time at the Legislature - we helped draft, edit, proofread, copy, and do everything else with all of the legislative bills as well as agency administrative rules, and we published the laws/statutes as well)
I did not like always having to juggle my music career (more about that below) and the job, and it was difficult to work those very long hours on late nights and weekends that the Revisor's Office and other staffers for the Legislature often end up having to work, and I am a single parent of two still-somewhat-young children, so it was too much - and I also disliked being nonpartisan - I have strong opinions, and sometimes I feel compelled to share them publicly. So, in 2017, I quit the job at the nonpartisan Revisor's Office, and am a full time musician now. I do not represent the Revisor's Office in any capacity anymore, and am free to speak publicly about my political positions now.
So, I wanted to first mention this, Representative-Elect Omar:
I actually rode the elevator in the State Office Building with you a couple of times - you were very friendly, I said hi, you said hi back with genuine warmth and kindness. I have been impressed by your meteoric rise to now be elected to Congress. That is quite an achievement, and you are definitely a pioneer in so many ways.
But I have to discuss something with you. BDS. Boycott, Divest, Sanction.
This is not a movement that is helpful to the cause of peace in the Middle East, as you yourself stated in a forum at Beth El Synagogue in August, prior to the general election in November.
At that forum, you told a crowd of more than 1,000 people, many of whom are Jewish (and many of whom are also strong supporters of Israel), that the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement was "counteractive" because it wasn't "helpful in getting a two-state solution"
However, then, a recent post-election statement to the "Muslim Girl" website, attributed to your campaign staff, read exactly as follows:
"lhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized. She does however, have reservations on the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution."
Now, I mean no disrespect by pointing this out, but I would be remiss if I did not mention that those two statements are definitely contradictory, at least in some sense.
When drafting and proofreading/editing legislative bills for so many years, I would often see the legal phrase (of something to the effect of) "that a reasonable person would conclude". This is a standard that is actually sometimes used in legislation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_person
Well, a reasonable person would conclude that you told a mostly Jewish audience that you are against BDS, and a reasonable person would also conclude that you told a mostly Muslim audience that you support BDS
I do not believe Israel should be immune to criticism, nor do I support every policy of the government of Israel.
However, I firmly believe that BDS is wrong, that it seeks to stigmatize and delegitimize and disenfranchise the Jewish state of Israel, to the exclusion of all other countries in the world, many of which behave far worse than Israel and face far fewer EXISTENTIAL THREATS TO THEIR EXISTENCE than Israel, and I think a great many others in my district, Jewish and non-Jewish, would agree
I also feel that this singling out of Israel is indeed anti-Semitic. I am sorry, but that is how I feel about it, and I am not alone in this belief. Anti-Zionism is not always equivalent to anti-Semitism, but there is often an overlap - and it is rare, indeed, that anti-Semites are NOT anti-Zionist (yes, there are a few crazies on the Far Right who hate Jews but somehow still support Israel, but that is a very tiny group of individuals who hold that particular conflicting set of positions - most on the Far Right hate Israel too, I am speaking of white nationalists/David Duke and his ugly ilk)
I write to you now as I am on tour as a musician (I am a singer-songwriter,
danisraelmusic.com) in Europe, primarily in Germany. Tomorrow, I am planning on visiting Bergen-Belsen concentration camp museum in Germany. Six million of my people were exterminated by the Nazis. Had my part of my family not left to escape the pogroms/persecution in Eastern Europe in the early part of the 20th century, I most certainly would not be here today to type this letter, as they all would have been killed in the Holocaust. Many many of my cousins/great-aunts/great-uncles WERE killed in Nazi camps.
We will never let that happen again, and Jews will never be left defenseless, without a homeland, again. Never, ever, never, ever.
I do not know what is in your heart. I hope, beyond hope, that you do not really support the destruction of Israel. Jewish and Somali people, and many Muslim people, have suffered from war and violence for too long. We have much in common, and I pray someday we will all live in peace, including in the Middle East. But Israel is not going away, nor should it.
I have no problem with criticizing Israeli government policies, when needed. The Israeli government is no more deserving of a moral "free pass" than any other nation. When they screw up, and they have, as all democracies do, then they should be rightly criticized, just as any country that does something objectionable should.
But when you support a movement that seeks to undermine the very existence of Israel, ad hominem - not by finely criticizing specific Israeli policies, but rather by turning the entire world against Israel with boycotts and divestment and sanctions, well, that is simply not OK.
I hope to see a clarification on your position on BDS soon. I am confused what you believe about it. Indeed, your shifting position on this important issue is very hard for me to follow. I am frankly not sure what you believe about the BDS movement, and many others are confused as well.
I certainly hope you do not support a movement that seeks to delegitimize Israel, though. That would be extremely upsetting for me, to know that my Congresswoman supports something so utterly wrong - and frankly, offensive, to me.
Thank you for reading this, Representative-Elect Omar, and congratulations again on your historic victory in the election. I look forward to your clarification soon on the BDS issue.
Sincerely,
Dan Israel (mailing address redacted here, but was included in the email I sent to her office)
