Omar’s boost for ‘boycott Israel’

Rep. Ilhan Omar proposed a resolution this week supporting the right to boycott Israel — comparing it to economic actions targeting Nazi Germany and other repressive regimes.

Omar wants to push back against laws banning boycotts of Israel and cement the free-speech rights of Americans to organize actions aimed at foreign countries.

While the resolution doesn’t name Israel or the pro-Palestinian “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement, the Minnesota Democrat told media outlets that the resolution was, indeed, about the Jewish state.

“We are introducing a resolution . . . to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our First Amendment rights in regard to boycotting,” Omar said. “And it is an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”

The resolution was criticized by GOPers, including Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin. “Shame on Rep Omar for bringing her hateful twist on that reality to House Foreign today, propping up the BDS movement & blaming Israel for all of its challenges,” he tweeted.

Omar’s resolution affirms the right to boycott as an expression of free speech and cites as examples movements against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and apartheid-era South Africa.

In the resolution introduced Tuesday she said, “Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad including . . . boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust.”

The measure was co-sponsored by Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

Omar, Tlaib and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, known as The Squad, have incurred President Trump’s wrath for what critics see as their antiAmerican views.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution that accuses BDS of promoting “principles of collective guilt, mass punishment and group isolation.”