February 12, 2024

Ilhan Omar Guilty of Espionage?

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar is the vision of the American dream for so many. Recent comments she made in a posted twitter video have implicated Ilhan Omar of being guilty of espionage however. Is Ilhan Omar a double agent? Let’s examine the evidence.

Who is Representative Ilhan Omar?

Ilhan Omar was born October 4, 1982 in Mogadishu, Somalia. She spent her childhood in Baidoa, Somalia, along with her seven siblings. Representative Omar’s family was granted asylum by the U.S. and moved to New York in 1995. After living in Arlington, Virginia for a time, eventually her family settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She has served as a U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. During her tenure she has advocated for a $15 minimum wage, universal healthcare, and the Green New Deal. She has successfully passed legislation to cancel student loan debt and guarantee three meals a day to underprivileged school children.

Representative Omar is a fierce critic of American foreign policy. She’s also known for her ardent stance against Israel and her support of the B.D.S (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) movement, which seeks to obliterate economic ties to Israel. She has accused Israeli lobbies of meddling in America’s foreign affairs.

Incriminating video

Ambassador Rhoda J Elmi of Somaliland shared a disturbing video on twitter January 28th that implicates Representative Ilhan Omar of being guilty of espionage. In the video, Representative Omar gives a speech in Arabic to a group of Somali listeners. There are provided English subtitles.

Omar starts off by proclaiming her pride in being Somalian first and Muslim second. She then continues that Ethiopia and Somalia had signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) regarding access to the Red Sea, and that her supporters have been urging her to petition the U.S. government against Ethiopia.

She comforts the audience saying “My answer to Somalians was that the U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else.” Representative Omar then continues “Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the video took an even darker, more genocidal tone. Omar says “Somalia is for Somalis only as over 45% of Somalia’s population are not even ethnic Somalis.”

To recap, Representative Ilhan Omar opens the video saying she is Somali first and Muslim second. The only time she mentions America is when she lays out a plan for how she will commandeer American foreign policy against the will of Americans. Finally, she makes a genocidal proclamation against non-Somalis.

A picture of Representative Ilhan Omar, who is possibly guilty of espionage. — Representative Ilhan Omar makes remarks during a rally on the Washington Mall, April 30, 2019, in Washington, DC. The rally called for Democratic leaders to censure President Donald Trump.

Is this an accurate translation?

Countless news sites have claimed that the translation is incorrect and that Republicans are wrongfully defaming Omar. Though the translation of the video is contested, many of Representative Ilhan Omar’s ethics seem directly at odds with American democracy. There is also a plethora of evidence that she is friendly with foreign agents whose values don’t align with democratic ideals.

Ilhan Omar’s public liaisons.

It must be emphasized that Omar hasn’t been found guilty of espionage. Her liaisons and ethical stances are bigoted at worst and un-American at best however. Omar met with the autocratic President Tayyip Erdogan in 2019 before being elected as a U.S. Congress Representative. Additionally, Omar’s campaign accepted a $1,500 donation from an ally of Erdogan. In 2021 Omar accepted an award from CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), which has a deep, sordid history of antisemitism. She regularly meets with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Shady bedfellows.

President Erdogan was elected in 2014. He is an authoritarian autocrat. Since his rise to power Turkey has witnessed a steady decline of free speech and a steep rise in human rights abuses. Erdogan seeks a complete unification of Islamic and Turkish identity. His government has truly come down on journalists with a heavy fist. There are currently 58 journalists and media workers serving sentences for terrorism charges.

In addition to clamping down on the press, Erdogan’s government has rolled back legislation protecting women and LGBTQ people. Sadly, Turkey is known as the domestic violence capital of the world. It’s reported that between 2013 and 2021, 3035 women were murdered. The annual Istanbul Pride Parade has been cancelled for its seventh year in a row now.

In another subtitled video on Instagram, Representative Ilhan Omar shares about being close with the present of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. She refers to him as “our president, president of Somalia” and brags “the president and I have a special relationship. I call him uncle and he calls me his girl.”

President Mohamud has stated that Somalia needs help combating terrorism in its country. The issue is however that the government of Somalia is rife with corruption. Somalia is the home of Al-Shabaab, an offshoot of Al Qaida. Al-Shabaab poses a significant terrorist threat in Somalia and the wider region.

Finally there is CAIR (Council for American-Islamic Relations). CAIR is a non-profit, civil rights organization for American Muslims. It has a history of promoting antisemitic tropes unfortunately. It was founded by radical anti-Israel activists, Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad. Nihad Awad has stated “Zionist organizations” are “enemies of the Muslim community” and that “Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States.”

Some think Ilhan Omar is guilty of espionage.

On February 1 Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a resolution to censure Representative Ilhan Omar. Representative Greene is no stranger to controversy herself, but while speaking was lucid and poised. Representative Greene starts “active members of Congress take an oath to bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”

She continues “these statements clearly violated the oath she took as an elected member of Congress, to defend and protect the United States Constitution” and “her actions must be condemned by all members of Congress.”

Representative Greene has since backed off from her efforts to censure due to reports that Somali experts say the video is mistranslated. There has since been no video posted, showing the proper translation. What parts or how much of the video was mistranslated? Was the entire translation incorrect?

Who does Ilhan Omar represent?

Naturally, being a woman, Somali, and Muslim, Omar presents herself as a champion of the disenfranchised. Many Kurds and Turkish leftists feel she is daft to the plight of minorities living within Turkey however. The Kurds have historically been subject to massive discrimination and genocide by the Turkish government. Erdogan has only continued this trend.

One of the most telling things about Omar’s priorities are her votes and lack there of. She was one of the only U.S. Representatives to refrain from voting to recognize the Armenian Genocide. She also was the only democrat to vote against sanctioning Turkey over its military offensive against Kurdish-controlled territories in northern Syria. This was a devastating blow to the Kurds, who were already suffering under Turkey’s oppressive rule.

No conclusive proof that Ilhan Omar is guilty of espionage.

Representative Greene has grown insecure in her initial stance that Representative Ilhan Omar is guilty of espionage. Greene likely won’t proceed with her push to censure Omar. That being said, this controversy has raised some poignant questions.

As stated previously, Representative Ilhan Omar received a $1,500 donation from an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip in 2019. Her voting record has benefited Turkey, a powerful bully in world politics, and hurts those who are vulnerable, the Kurds and Armenians.

While there is currently no smoking gun as to Ilhan Omar being guilty of espionage, there are disturbing things about her service in Congress. Why should any Representative of Congress not be held up to scrutiny with such a voting record and public relations with theocratic despots?

As always I, and the team at Brooklynites, thank you for reading. Click back soon. <3

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