An Open Letter to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar About Her Ignorance and Anti-Semitism

Dear Congresswoman,

I am Ron Cantor and there is something I want to get off my chest. I will say it out loud, here in a public forum, writing from downtown Tel Aviv!

I hate my country, Israel!Our prime minister is the worst! He is not fit to lead a kindergarten, much less a country.Israel is a racist, apartheid nation and deserves all the hatred she receives!

You Chuckle at Israel’s Democracy?

You know what is amazing, Congresswoman? I am still here. No one has come to lock me up. Do you see my point? Last week, you said that you “chuckle” when people talk about Israel being a democracy; that the U.S. should have same approach to Israel, as we do to Iran.

Let’s get back to my comments. The truth is, I love Israel. We are not a perfect nation, but I love my country and I think we are the most humane nation in the world. The reason I stated those words at the beginning was to reveal your ignorance (and racism) regarding the clear differences between Israel and Iran.

You see, if I were an Iranian blogger and wrote such things about Iran in Iran, about the president or Ayatollahs, I would be arrested and beaten. I would most likely be thrown into prison after a sham trial. Right? That is a fact. I could even disappear for ever. It happens all the time in good ole Iran. You know what will happen to me in Israel for cursing the government. Nothing. And that is the difference between the police state of Iran and the free democracy of Israel.

The Freest Arabs in the Middles East are in Israel

Let’s keep going. Did you know, congresswoman, that we have nearly two million Israeli Arabs and they are the freest Arabs in the Middle East. Ask yourself this, why do they stay? They could move to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia, but they stay in a Jewish-majority country. Why? Two words: Freedomand Democracy. I bet you didn’t know that one of our three supreme court justices is an Israeli Arab? Did you know that close to fifteen percent of our Knesset (Parliament) members are Arabs? How many Jews are in Iran’s parliament? You cannot go to a hospital in Israel and not find Israeli Arab doctors and nurses.

We made this video a few years ago in Tel Aviv. It shows the happiest, freest Arabs in the Middle East.

You went on to share that Israel, as a Jewish state, doesn’t recognize other religions. That is a lie. Have you been to the Old City of Jerusalem where there are mosques, churches and synagogues; where there is a Jewish quarter, a Muslim quarter and Christian quarter? Yes, we are a Jewish nation, but, unlike many Muslim-majority nations, there is complete freedom of religion. However, when Jordan controlled the Old City of Jerusalem from 1948-68, there was no freedom of religion. The Jews were forcibly removed, and every synagogue and Jewish monument was destroyed. If you are concerned about freedom of religion, your issue is not with Israel, but Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and, certainly, Gaza where Christians have been murdered by Muslims.

Zionism is Racism…umm, not quite

Seeing that you are not so educated in history, do you know how the Jewish nation came about? Why did its founders leave other countries to redeem the desert? It is because they were killing us, the Jews, in every other nation. While I am sure you doubt the accuracy of the number, it is widely believed that 6,000,000 Jews died in Europe…and that was after living under centuries of anti-Semitism, persecution and pogroms. The motivation for Theodore Herzl, the father of Zionism, to form the Jewish nation was not racism—it was not to have a “pure” Jewish state—you are confusing that with Nazism, White Supremacy and Islamism. Actually, he was initially an opponent of the idea of a Jewish country—it was only when he realized that people, like yourself, will never stop persecuting Jews, that he saw the necessity for a haven for the Jewish people.

So, yes, Madam Congresswoman, Israel is a thriving Jewish democracy. However, unlike Iran, it has freedom of religion and speech. Unlike Saudi Arabia, or even in the nearby Palestinian Authority, our press is not afraid of being thrown in jail for writing against the Prime Minister (it is actually a national pastime here!). If a Muslim had written this article about his government in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and a host of other nations, he and his family would suffer. My punishment? I will never get back the half hour it took me to write this.