Dual loyalties, double standards in Minneapolis politics

You may have seen the videos on social media this weekend. The occasion was the annual Somali Independence Day festival on Lake Street in Minneapolis on Saturday.

The event was the culmination of Somali Week celebrating the creation of the current Somali nation in East Africa in 1960, which combined territories previous ruled by the colonial powers Italy and Great Britain. Naturally, the theme of the day was the Somali flag and banners flying the national colors.

Ilhan Omar’s campaign banners appear on the stage as she was a sponsor of the event, hosted by a local organization. There are eight (8) government agencies also sponsoring the event.

The guest speaker was His Excellency, Hassan Ali Khaire, who served as Somali prime minister from 2017 to 2020, until he was ousted by parliament in a vote of no confidence.

The event also featured 5th District Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (DFL-Minneapolis) who touted her appearance on her Twitter (X) page. She also retweeted this post,

The video circulating is an excerpt of Khaire’s speech, where he appears to turn the event into an impromptu campaign rally for Omar’s upcoming primary election. On August 13, Omar faces a rematch with former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels in the Democratic primary. Samuels lost by a narrow 50 to 48 percent margin two years ago in the primary.

Omar seems to be taking the contest more seriously this year, campaigning inside the district and running ads on prime-time television.

The one-minute video excerpt of Khaire’s speech, in Somali with English captions, appears to show Khaire endorsing Omar. The captions read (at 0:10),

The interests of Ilhan are not Ilhan’s. It’s not the interests of Minnesota. Nor is it the interest of the American people. The interests of Ilhan is that of the Somalian people & Somalia.

The success of Ilhan is the success of Somalia

For her part, Ilhan can be seen standing next to Khaire and smiling along. He later adds (at 0:40),

I am asking that you support and give money to Ilhan’s campaign. To support her with your votes.

We’ve heard for years about “foreign interference” in American elections. Isn’t this a prima facie example?

Another video, in a different setting, is circulating, with Khaire addressing several local elected officials in a small conference room. The video, posted by Deena Winter of MN Reformer, speaks for itself. A screenshot,

As a side note, the four local politicians mentioned all have ties to the Feeding Our Future scandal, either through campaign contributions (Omar, Noor, Hassan) or through a non-profit (Osman).

These incidents with Khaire call to mind an earlier incident where Rep. Omar appears to pick sides in border dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia. Omar explained it away as the result of an inaccurate translation of her remarks in Somali. But the two incidents are identical in two respects–(1) Ilhan appears to agree that her primary role is to represent Somalia in the U.S. Congress and (2) local media ignore.

For her part, Omar is quick to throw around the “dual-loyalty” charge at anyone who supports the State of Israel. It’s time she make clear her own loyalties.

Surprisingly, no local media have picked up on the Khaire kerfuffle. The New York Post, of course, has covered the story.

While he was in town, Khaire found time to pay his respects to a local icon.