I’ve followed these women for a very long time.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali since she shot to fame and infamy in the Netherlands, right back to the beginning of this blog in 2009.
Ilhan Omar since she was elected to the United States Congress in 2019. Both are born in Somalia but have been given refuge in western countries.
My short take: Ayaan is a wonderful, brave and moral woman. Omar is the world’s greatest ingrate.
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Here goes my slightly longer take:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ilhan Omar, both born in Somalia and refugees who found opportunity in the West, represent starkly contrasting paths.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali endured female genital mutilation as a child and fled an arranged marriage. In the Netherlands, she boldly exposed Islamic misogyny through her writings and the film *Submission* with Theo van Gogh, which critiqued the oppression of women under fundamentalist Islam.
The film provoked outrage: van Gogh was assassinated by an Islamist in 2004, and Hirsi Ali received death threats, living under protection ever since. Undeterred, she champions Western liberal values—freedom, tolerance, and women's rights—while rejecting the cultural practices that harmed her. Her courage embodies gratitude toward the open societies that sheltered her.
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In contrast, Ilhan Omar fled Somalia's civil war as a child, spending years in a refugee camp before her family was granted asylum in the U.S. in the 1990s. America welcomed her, enabling her rise to Congress in 2019 as one of the first Muslim women elected. Lawmakers even changed House rules to allow her hijab on the floor—a gesture of inclusion.
"Who is Ilham Omar?". It's a pretty nasty family history, tbf. Despite which she seems to be following it. Calling, for example, the 911 Twin Towers atrocity "some people did some things". And Jew-hating: "They love their Benjies".
Omar non-stop smears on America, from its foreign policy to domestic systems, while emphasizing solidarity with Somalia. In speeches to Somali-American audiences, she has vowed to prioritize Somalia's interests, such as protecting its territorial claims, prompting accusations of divided loyalties and ingratitude toward the nation that gave her refuge and power.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali risked everything to defend Western freedoms. Hero.
Ilhan Omar benefited immensely from western freedoms and tolerance; then does and supports everything to bring them down. Grifter.
Just look at how Omar is handling the Somali Fraud Scandal in Minnesota. Deflect, deny, project, excuse.
