Many progressive pundits have noted the irony: Congressional Democrats rush to condemn alleged anti-Semitic comments by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, but they rarely protest some of their Republican colleagues canoodling with true anti-Semites. (Remember the deplorables chanting “Jews will not replace us!” in Charlottesville?) I see a much sharper irony, but I’ll get back to that.
The behavior by Chris Coons and his ilk is easy to understand if you look at it from their perspective: Actual Republican anti-Semitism helps Democrats, but the mere hint of it from a Democrat hurts the whole party. 
Fortunately the vote on a resolution against anti-Semitism has been delayed after progressives, including AOC, squawked about the kneejerk reaction, the special attention to Israel and the attempt to conflate legitimate concern about Israel’s hold over Congress with anti-Semitism.
Even her defenders, however, point to examples from Republicans that I think any reasonable person would have to stretch to find offensive. The latest is an attack on monomaniacal billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, which someone texted as “$teyer.” This is being construed as anti-Semitic because of the dollar sign, which supposedly calls up the stereotype of the greedy Jew.
Truthfully, I had no idea Tom Steyer was Jewish, and even if he is, isn’t a dollar sign appropriate when you’re slagging a guy for his wealth, regardless of his religious upbringing? I get why Jewish people are sensitive to the possibility that such things are intended as slurs, but the acquisitive inclination is spread pretty wide, deep and evenly in our species. Why should Jews get a special pass on being accused of greed? They are no more inclined to it than anyone else, but neither are they less.
It comes down to a matter of sensitivity. It seems to me that our public discourse violates one of the first principles of psychological therapy: You can’t control what other people do, only your own reaction to it.
Which brings me back to the real irony: Rep. Omar has been the target of attacks that are far more clearly and virulently anti-Muslim than anything she has said about Washington’s Tribe of Benjamins, the most recent linking her to the 9/11 attacks, but her Democratic colleagues haven’t spoken up for her or her religion.
So let’s stop calling these politicians pro-Israel, and start calling them what they are — anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. Because this is not about treating the Jewish state worse, it’s about treating Muslim states better and giving Palestinians a state of their own.