Fact Check: No, Rep. Ilhan Omar did not say police shouldn't exist because some cops are Jewish

Chiara Vercellone, USA TODAY
·4 min read
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a news conference in St. Paul, Minn.
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The claim: Rep. Ilhan Omar says police shouldn't exist after learning some cops are Jewish

A 2019 image with more than 6,700 shares claims Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., opposes the police because some officers are Jewish. It resurfaced on Facebook this month amid the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin.

The post was shared for the first time on March 18, 2019, by Stone Cold USA, a conservative page with almost 30,000 followers. The image shows a headline reading: "Ilhan Omar Says police Shouldn't Exist After Learning Some Cops are Jewish."

Stone Cold USA didn't respond USA TODAY's request for comment.

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Image is from satirical article

The headline shared across Facebook was originally published March 8, 2019, by Blue News Network, a law enforcement satire website that's no longer maintained. Its "about us" page adds: "If you haven't figured it out yet, this is a satirical news website."

Mike Edwards, the author, is a retired Detroit police officer turned Realtor who goes by "Mike the Cop" on social media, where he has more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and 1 million followers on Facebook.

The satire disclaimers featured on Blue News Network and Edwards' author page (which reads: "The articles I write for BNN are satire and it's hilarious when people don't know that") weren't shared on the social media post, which has led to some users taking the headline seriously.

A spokesperson for Omar told PolitiFact the post is inaccurate.

Edwards didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY.

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Satire references deleted tweet

The satire piece calls to mind a controversial tweet Omar posted in February 2019.

The tweet, which read, "It's all about the Benjamins baby," was perceived as a negative and harmful stereotype of Jewish Americans. Omar later apologized for her comment, which was criticized as anti-Semitic by politicians on both sides of the aisle.

She deleted the tweet two weeks after sending it, according to ProPublica's "Politwoops" project, which tracks deleted tweets from public officials.

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Omar also commented on the need to "disband (the police) and reimagine public safety" in Minneapolis in June 2020, a month after the death of George Floyd.

"What we are saying is the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore," she said on CNN's "State of the Union" on June 14, 2020. "So, dismantling it and then looking at what funding priorities should look like as we reimagine a new way forward is what needs to happen."

Our rating: False

The claim that Omar said police shouldn't exist because some cops are Jewish is FALSE, based on our research. The claim is based on a screenshot from a satirical website. A spokesperson from the Omar office has said the post is inaccurate, and USA TODAY found no records she said that.

Our fact-checking sources:

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Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact Check: Post about Rep. Ilhan Omar based on satirical article