Ilhan Omar just torched Ted Cruz after he blamed her for an offensive cartoon in the NY Times

As white nationalist-inspired terrorist attacks against Muslims and Jews across the world see a sudden and terrifying spike in frequency, the response from those largely responsible for perpetrating those hateful ideas has been to double down — and have been allowed to go relatively unchallenged by the media.

Right-wing religious extremist Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to Twitter to complain loudly about how the “left” is responsible for rising anti-Semitism in the United States in response to a disturbing cartoon that was published in the New York Times this weekend, which he insinuated was somehow the fault of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her tame criticisms of the Israeli lobby a few months ago.

Omar immediately fired back and raked him over the coals for his outrageous and uncalled for attempt to associate her with an entirely unrelated display of anti-Semitism.

She correctly pointed out that Cruz deliberately failed to mention that one day prior a right-wing white supremacist had committed a terror attack at the Chabad of Poway synagogue on one of the most important Jewish holidays, killing one person and wounding four more with an assault rifle.

That attack took place six months to the day after the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, where eleven people were brutally murdered by an assault-rifle-wielding white supremacist.

Both the Tree of Life and Chabad of Poway shooters specifically cited right-wing propaganda talking points and paranoid conspiracy theories that President Trump and Ted Cruz himself have promoted about immigration into the United States as the motivation for their heinous attacks — but Cruz instead lays the blame on a Muslim woman who already is constantly barraged with hate mail and death threats from Republican psychopaths.

He wasn’t the only one. Prominent right-wing figures like Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Vice President Pence and faildaughter pundit Meghan McCain were quick to pile on with wagging fingers at the “anti-Semitic left,” despite all supporting the political ideology that actually is fuelling the revival of anti-Semitism in American.

Time and time again, conservatives can be counted on to cowardly refuse to take responsibility for the consequences of their dangerous rhetoric and instead attempt to lay the blame on their victims instead. We should all support Ilhan Omar in her constant battle with right-wing Islamophobes and their pernicious smear campaigns against our nation’s first refugee Congresswoman.

Colin Taylor

Managing Editor

Colin Taylor is the managing editor of the Washington Press. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice, equality, and universal health care in America.