House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called out members of his own party in the same breath as he lobbed criticism at President Trump for anti-Semitic remarks.
In a tweet on Thursday evening, Nadler condemned Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for sharing a cartoon drawn by Carlos Latuff, best known as the winner of Iran’s “International Holocaust Cartoon Competition.” He also called out Trump for perpetuating the anti-Semitic “disloyalty” trope earlier this week.
The growing anti-Semitism in our political dialogue is repugnant. @realdonaldtrump’s comments about disloyalty are a vicious and dangerous anti-Semitic trope. And the Carlos Latuff cartoon forwarded by @RepRashida and @Ilhan can surely be read for its vile underlying message.
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) August 22, 2019
The cartoon depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding his hand over Tlaib’s mouth and Trump doing the same to Omar. Both congresswomen shared the cartoon on their Instagram stories after they were blocked from entering Israel by Netanyahu because of their promotion of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions). Given Trump’s personal relationship with Netanyahu, many speculate the Israeli leader was just trying to stay in Trump’s good graces.
Trump has been attacking Tlaib, Omar and two other congresswomen of color for weeks, using racist language to condemn the women who he claims are anti-Semitic and anti-Trump.
Okay. I’ve just looked at that cartoon for the first time.
I’m not well-versed in anti-semitic tropes. Can someone help me see the problem?
Nadler on auto-pilot:
Here’s the cartoon with its “vile underlying message”:
There is no problem. Nadler is just helping Republicans demonize Tlaib and Omar. You can bet his comment will be used by them.
Why you would play both sides with this is beyond me, and there is no explanation to use this cartoon to do it. Watching the left play these games with Tlaib and Omar is infinitely more maddening than watching the right play it.
I think Nadler’s reaction is not to the cartoon, but to who drew it. It’s the messenger, not the message.