Islamophobic AIPAC Attacks Muslim Congresswomen

By Staff, Al-Jazeera

The American ‘Israel’ Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] is facing accusations of Islamophobia and incitement after doubling down on attacks against Muslim-American congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

AIPAC, a pro-‘Israel’ advocacy group that presents itself as bipartisan, has long been running attack ads against the Zionist regime’s critics in Congress who are mostly progressive Democrats.

On Wednesday, Jeremy Slevin, Omar’s communications director, slammed the group for a sponsored post claiming that the legislator sees “no difference between America and the Taliban” and “democracies and terrorists.”

Slevin said the language used by AIPAC is “identical” to hate messages the congresswoman receives.

“Make no mistake: AIPAC is putting Rep. Omar’s life at risk with repeated Islamophobic attack ads,” he wrote.

“It shouldn’t have to be stated, but baselessly linking Muslim-Americans to terrorism is *the* textbook example of Islamophobia and is routinely used to silence advocacy for Palestinian human rights,” he continued.

Following Slevin’s post, the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights organization, released a statement condemning AIPAC for what it called an “Islamophobic, dishonest and dangerous ad campaign” against Omar.

“AIPAC’s attempt to spread this vile, Islamophobic language to Facebook users could incite threats of violence against Representative Omar and other American Muslim leaders. Put simply, AIPAC’s bigotry is placing Ilhan Omar’s life at risk,” said CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell.

“Facebook should immediately take down these vile ads and congressional leaders must condemn AIPAC for continuing to incite Islamophobic hatred against Representative Omar.”

The outrage did not prompt AIPAC to reverse course; in fact, the pro-‘Israel’ group reiterated its message linking Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, to ‘terrorism.’

The pro-‘Israel’ group was referring to controversy in June when Omar questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the US administration’s opposition investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan and Palestine by the International Criminal Court [ICC].