Surprising or not, assault on Ilhan Omar shouldn't be normalised

When AIPAC, media outlets, pro-Israel members of Congress, and even the President of the United States spend years smearing a single member of Congress as a threat to our nation, it is only a matter of time before that hatred inspires someone to take matters into their hands.

That is exactly what happened on January 27 in Minneapolis, when a right-wing extremist with an obsessive hatred of Somali-Americans charged at Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and sprayed a liquid on her using a syringe.

While Omar was thankfully left uninjured and the assailant was taken into custody, the torrent of anti-Muslim hate unleashed against her by the Trump administration, Israel lobby groups and anti-Muslim extremists shows no signs of stopping.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, President Trump called Omar a “fraud” before suggesting that she may have arranged the attack herself.

This is nothing new from the president, who began attacking Omar as soon as she was elected to represent Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in 2019. It was only months after her election that the president accused her of supporting Al-Qaeda.

Late last year, Trump said of Omar and other Somali-Americans, “We’re going the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country” and “She’s garbage.”

Following Trump’s lead, Republican members of Congress have also spent years smearing and attacking Omar. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado repeatedly referred to Omar and other Muslim members of Congress as the “Jihad Squad,” and joked that she feared Omar might be a suicide bomber. She also called Omar a “full-time propagandist for Hamas.”

During a debate over an anti-Islamophobia bill, Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry falsely accused Omar of being “affiliated with … terrorist organizations.” Congressman Randy Fine of Florida said Ilhan Omar didn’t want to see Congress welcome genocidal war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu because he was a “killer of … fellow Muslim terrorists.”

Republicans aren’t the only ones guilty of bad-faith attacks on Ilhan Omar. In early 2019, House Democratic leadership, including then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, implicitly accused Omar of antisemitism for her criticism of AIPAC's financial influence over US foreign policy.

In June 2021, a group of roughly a dozen House Democrats issued a joint statement slamming her for suggesting that violations of human rights, regardless of whether they are committed by the US, Israel, Hamas, or the Taliban, should be condemned. 

Omar’s principled opposition to Israel’s malign influence over American politics and its genocide against Palestinians has also earned her scorn from AIPAC, who bought multiple Facebook advertisements falsely linking her to terrorism.

There is a direct line between this kind of rhetoric, which is not coming from fringe corners of the internet but rather from the very government of which Omar is a member, and the kind of violence that almost took place at that town hall.

When millions of Americans repeatedly hear claims that a female Muslim lawmaker and former refugee is an un-American terrorist, there's an obvious risk that at least one of these individuals will act on that rhetoric.

While the man who assaulted Omar is responsible for his own actions, political leaders and lobby groups bear responsibility for the hateful atmosphere they created. The attack on Omar was not an inexplicable anomaly; it was the predictable outcome of years of escalating bigotry.

This context of this targeting of Omar is also not limited to the attacks from lawmakers and powerful institutions. Minneapolis, the city which she represents, has been a flashpoint for resistance to the cruelty of the U.S. immigration system she has long condemned. ICE abuses, ranging from aggressive workplace raids and courthouse arrests to the detention and deportation of community members with deep roots in Minnesota, have torn families apart and terrorised immigrant neighbourhoods, particularly Somali and East African communities.

In response, Minneapolis has seen sustained and overwhelmingly peaceful protests. These protests, which Omar has supported, have been met with a violent response by ICE and the administration. Two people have been killed by ICE agents in recent weeks. The government's brutal crackdowns in Minneapolis have heightened tensions nationwide and ushered in an atmosphere of violence in which bigots have been emboldened.

The hate is also not limited to Omar, but all Muslims and people of colour who speak up for Palestinian human rights and other causes of justice. The rest of us must double down on our advocacy for justice, stand in solidarity with Omar, and stand up to the extremists who have spent years endangering her. Enough is enough.

Ismail Allison serves as National Communications Manager at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation.

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.