#IStandWithIlhan: Supporters Reject Smear Campaign After Newly-Elected Omar Declares Support of BDS

Free speech and human rights supporters are rallying behind Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar after a pro-Israeli government group attacked the representative-elect for announcing her support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Omar—who along with Democrat Rashida Tlaib of Michigan became the first Muslim women elected to Congress—expressed her support for the movement to several websites this week prompting many to declare also #IStandWithIlhan on social media.

That’s not the outcome likely hoped for by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The group, which states that is mission is to “stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all” but is accused of promoting Islamophobia, said the support was “alarming.” It said in its tweet that “BDS doesn’t just criticize Israel’s gov., it denies its right to exist as a Jewish State.”

That claim is not true, as journalist Mehdi Hansan responded: 

 Rebecca Vilkomerson, the executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, shot back at the ADL’s tweet as well, calling it an “irresponsible use of @ADL_National’s status as a civil rights org.,” and praised Omar for being the first member of Congress to declare her support for BDS.