Monday, October 01, 2007
Editorial: Immigration panel better without Omeish
The Muslim member of the panel had a history of bashing Israel and supporting "jihad," videos showed.
From the RoundTable blog
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Esam Omeish does not like Israel. He was quite clear about that when he talked about "the barbaric and disproportionate Israeli war machine." He also thinks American Muslims should support "the jihad way" as the means to liberate Middle Eastern lands.
He's entitled to his view, and he may state it publicly on the National Mall if he wants. This is America, after all.
He must realize, however, that if he's going to spout that sort of invective, there will be consequences. For example, someone who has those views hardly seems to have the temperament to serve on the Virginia Commission on Immigration, as Omeish did -- briefly, as it turns out.
Videos surfaced on the Internet video site YouTube showing Omeish, a surgeon and Muslim activist, bashing Israel and supporting jihad. Gov. Tim Kaine therefore asked Omeish to resign from the panel investigating the impact, both good and bad, that immigrants have on Virginia.
Israel is certainly not beyond reproach and criticism, but one can present arguments without inflated rhetoric.
Likewise, Omeish is right that the word "jihad" can have a much broader meaning than most Americans understand. He told The Associated Press it means "constant struggle -- struggling spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically -- in all respects."
Except when someone uses the word on these shores, that's not what people hear. They hear an inflammatory word that evokes violence and even terrorism.
If that interpretation is wrong, it's unfortunate, but that doesn't change the impact. Speakers must be sensitive to what the audience will understand a word to mean, especially those in a public position.
To his credit, Omeish resigned from the panel willingly so controversy about him would not derail its work.
Meanwhile, the governor's office will have to find someone else to serve on the commission. Fortunately, its staff has learned a valuable lesson: The sources of information online are constantly evolving. Kevin Hall, the governor's spokesman, told The Washington Post that YouTube searches will be part of the vetting process for candidates from now on.
