Is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) up to her usual tricks again? A recent post on X, formerly Twitter, could lead one to believe this is the case.
Last Friday, Omar wrote a post about a fire at the Mercy Islamic Center in Minneapolis, which caused quite a bit of damage to the facility. The lawmaker noted that an arsonist had targeted the building earlier this year, attempting to burn the building while 100 people were inside. She said she was “grateful that no one was hurt” and that she was “praying for the safety of my community.”
A fire has caused extensive to a mosque in my district in Minneapolis.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 3, 2023
This same mosque was subject to an arson attack earlier this year while over 100 people were inside.
I am grateful that no one was hurt and praying for the safety of my community. pic.twitter.com/Y9UIvNZuPp
However, while the fire at the mosque is disturbing, especially against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas, there was one detail Omar did not highlight: Law enforcement does not believe the fire was intentionally set.
Muslim leaders and worshippers are on edge after a fire at the property of the Mercy Islamic Center.
The same mosque was set on fire less than a year ago. Investigators say Jackie Little was behind the fire intentionally set on the third floor. Little was also tied to burning down the mosque inside the Somali Mall. He is facing federal charges.
Minneapolis Police said they don’t believe the cause of the Wednesday’s fire to be suspicious at this time. However, that is not doing too much to ease the Muslim community’s concerns.
While Omar did not explicitly state that the current fire was the result of arson, her post seemed to insinuate such. This is particularly noteworthy due to rising concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia coming from tensions over the war in the Middle East.
Indeed, there have already been violent attacks in places like France and China against Jewish people. Yet, the Biden administration has chosen to focus primarily on anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States. The White House recently announced that it was developing the first national strategy to counter Islamophobia.
Critics argue that the White House’s focus ignores a significant rise in antisemitic hate crimes, which have accounted for more than 50 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2022, despite Jews making up only 2.4 percent of the United States population.
Let’s get some basic facts straight before we delve into the White House’s attempt to gaslight the country. Jews make up 2.4 percent of the total population in the United States but were the target of more than 50 percent of the religiously motivated hate crimes that took place in 2022. These are the numbers of Joe Biden’s own FBI, and, let’s face it, the 2023 numbers will be markedly higher.
On the other hand, the Justice Department shows that anti-Muslim hate crimes made up less than ten percent of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2022.
While it’s impossible to read minds, it is not unreasonable to suspect that Omar posted about the mosque to promote the idea that Islamophobia is the more pressing issue as tensions over the war continue to be inflamed.
Of course, this is not to say that anti-Muslim bigotry is not an issue at all. Last month, a landlord in Illinois stabbed a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy to death after arguing with his mother over the war between Israel and Hamas.
However, instead of turning this matter into an oppression Olympics, it would make sense to focus on the bigger threat rather than trying to score cheap political points.
