Bill Glahn frequently observes that Minnesota produces more news than can be consumed locally, although I would add that the national news we produce occasionally skips the local news. Today’s Jewish Insider newsletter leads with a story on the endorsed Minneapolis DFL mayoral candidate, whom I refer to as the ideologically fetid Omar Fateh. The newsletter previews JI editor Josh Kraushaar’s column “The collective shrug at rising antisemitism.” with the tag Minnesota: Land of 10,000 flakes. Here is the preview:
If there is one word to describe the political mood in dealing with rising antisemitism, it would be apathy. Even the most jaw-dropping displays of anti-Jewish hatred — from abject Holocaust denial on far-right podcasts to support for Hamas’ atrocities on the extreme left — are increasingly responded to with shrugs from mainstream political leaders.
The most recent example of obvious antisemitism being ignored by a party’s political class came out of Minnesota, where we reported about Minneapolis Democratic mayoral candidate Omar Fateh — running as a democratic socialist against sitting Mayor Jacob Frey — hiring top staff who celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.
In normal times, a candidate would be ashamed to be associated with extremists, and would immediately cut ties with the offending staffers. Not long ago, having ties to that type of extremist rhetoric would be disqualifying for the candidate as well.
But these are not normal times. Not only has Fateh, a state senator, ignored the controversy entirely, but the local and national media has been uninterested in following up on Jewish Insider’s reporting about the radical operatives on Fateh’s team.
Even more shocking: Two of Frey’s most prominent backers, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — have remained silent when asked about their thoughts about the antisemitism stemming from an endorsee’s political rival. It’s a sign that many mainstream Democrats fear that speaking out against antisemitism or anti-Israel extremism could lead to a backlash from other grassroots supporters.
At best, it’s a sign that speaking out against hate carries few political benefits these days.
Fateh is not only a disgrace in himself, he is the cause of disgrace in others (such as Klobuchar and Walz), who have held themselves out as friends of the Jewish community. See the whole thing here.
In the current installment of the Fateh story, the DFL tries to figure out what to do about the absurdly faulty process that ended in his mayoral nomination. My guess is that, like Klobuchar and Walz, the DFL will let it ride.
