A New York Times columnist argued Saturday that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) missed an opportunity to build bridges between Muslims and Jews in the U.S. with her recent comments about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israel.
In an interview on CNN’s “Smerconish,” Thomas Friedman said Omar’s district, which is composed of sizable Jewish and Somali-American Muslim populations, had teed up the rookie representative to build relationships between the two communities.
“Ilhan Omar represents, I believe, the biggest Jewish community in the whole upper Midwest,” Friedman said Saturday. “She represents that community. She also represents a Somali immigrant community that’s come to our city since then and added their voice and their richness and their color.”
“She was perfectly poised to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews, between Arabs and Israelis,” Friedman continued. “And rather than come to Washington and be a bridge builder, she has come to be a bridge destroyer.” – READ MORE