Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar had planned a trip to Israel, but the big news was who was paying for the trip. It was Miftah. Miftah is a Palestinian extremist group that spreads false stories about Israel and Jews.
They once accused Jews of using the blood of Christians in their Passover celebrations, for which they have since apologized for. They refer to heinous terroristic acts as resistance and justifiable.
According to NGO Monitor, Miftah’s publications use highly politicized language, accusing Israel of “massacres,” “apartheid,” “summary executions” of Palestinian youth and “Judaizing” Jerusalem.
Miftah founder Hanan Ashrawi, also chair of its board of directors, has also accused Israel of “persistent colonialism, apartheid, racism and victimization,” and said in a 2017 interview that Palestinian terrorist attacks “are seen by the people as resistance. And you cannot somehow adopt the language of either the international community or the occupier by describing anybody who resists as terrorists.”
Miftah’s website also praises Wafa Idress, a female suicide-bomber who killed an 81-year-old Israeli and wounded 150 others in January 2002 as part of the “resistance movement.”
And how does the lamestream press describe them?
From an analysis by the Washington Examiner:
- In seven Associated Press reports about the Omar-Tlaib trip, only one mentions Miftah by name. The other six associate the organization with its Palestinian advocacy.
- The New York Times editorial board also associates Miftah with its Palestinian advocacy, in both an editorial and reporting.
- Two reports by the Washington Post similarly describe Miftah as “a nonprofit organization headed by Palestinian lawmaker and longtime peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi.”
- The Los Angeles Times editorial board also describes Miftah as “a nonprofit organization headed by a Palestinian lawmaker.” Additional reporting did not even mention Miftah.
- ABC News, Reuters, and Yahoo also do not make mention of Miftah’s anti-Semitism, only the group’s relation to Ashrawi and its status as a non-profit.
- Bloomberg News does not even mention Miftah in its reporting.
To the credit of the New York Times, the newspaper published an op-ed from staff opinion writer Bari Weiss that described Miftah “has proudly praised female suicide bombers and pushed the medieval blood libel.”