South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Protesters rally ahead of Ilhan Omar’s stop
CORAL SPRINGS – ProTrump bikers, truckmounted signs and flags waved through an already bustling corner of Coral Springs on Saturday.
Some from the crowd of about 100 were there to protest a visit from U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was scheduled to talk at an event just down the road. Others were angry about impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
Omar, the freshman Democrat from Minnesota, was in South Florida to headline a fundraising banquet for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim-American civil rights group also known as CAIR.
A handful of those who showed up on Saturday were activists protesting Omar’s meeting with CAIR, and claimed the group had ties to the terrorist organization Hamas.
“We’re here to call out the terrorist links of CAIR,” said Joe Kaufman, one of the organizers and former Republican candidate for Congress.
Kaufman and other activists seized on a now-deleted
State Committeeman Richard DeNapoli speaks during a rally in protest against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
tweet by Omar — she replied to a story about House Republicans taking action against her criticism of Israel with “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” The tweet drew wide bipartisan criticism and Omar later apologized.
“We believe that that’s way beyond criticism of Israel,” Kaufman said.
Some protesters held signs condemning Democrats. Others waved “Trump 2020” banners.
Kaufman said his cause was calling out bigotry.
“I think that’s been unfortunately affecting the left wing and I think, yes, there is an issue with bigotry within the white supremacist movement,” he said.
He was part of a group that spoke at the rally along with Hallandale Commissioner Annabelle LimaTaub, who drew criticism after accusing another Muslim-born Congresswoman of anti-Semitism and
A cloudy day sets the scene of a rally organized by the Republican National Committee in protest of Democratic Rep. Ihan Omar, who is scheduled to speak for a CAIR (Council for American-Islamic Relations) fundraising event at the Marriott Hotel in Coral Springs on Saturday.
claimed she might “blow up Congress.”
But most other protesters, like Gary Robinson, showed up to defend President
Trump amid the impeachment inquiry.
“The lady speaking this evening is a rabid antiTrump congresswoman
that’s leading the charge with this impeachment nonsense,” the Tamarac resident said as he waved a U.S. flag.