On American soil, there are 2 events in my lifetime that I think of as terrorism, off of the top of my head.
9/11 and Oklahoma City.
Now 9/11 was a bunch of Saudis bombing New York. We should have declared war on Saudi Arabia, but we didn't. We sent troops to places NEAR Saudi Arabia.
Oklahoma City was a bunch of WHITE TERRORISTS trying to be the first domino in toppling the American Government. That's not just me, THAT IS WIKIPEDIA.
So Dean Obeidallah's argument is already flawed, even before we get to the meat of the argument.
But what really has Obeidallah in a lather today? Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is getting hate mail because she is a Muslim. Guess what? Why don't we call Congressmen Bernie Sanders and ask how much hate mail he gets for being Jewish. Seriously, I don't mean to be callous, but I would speculate that every single Congressperson in America gets death threats. It sucks, but I would be stunned if a member of Congress wrote to me at Beacon of Speech: Oh, no Fred Hunt, you got it all wrong, I get mostly nice letters. I have never received a death threat in my life.....
'Kaysville man allegedly called in death threats to Congress members; being held without bail in Weber jail." - Salt Lake Standard Examiner (YESTERDAY. 10 separate Congressmen and Senators targeted.) But Obeidallah is trying to move the narrative that other Congresspersons are receiving flowers and Tlaib is being singled out for being Muslim.
Let's pretend though that Obeidallah is right. What is his angle? Why does he want terrorist charges against (Unnamed White Perpetrators)? He wants President Trump to hold White Supremacist's feet to the fire. If they were charged with "terrorism" the press would be forced to call them terrorists.
At Columbine it was whites shooting whites. I could call it terrorism, you might not agree. Is a school shooter a terrorist?
The Gabby Giffords shooting was definitely terrorism right? No, technically that guy was crazy as determined by a court of law.
You remember the Congressional Softball Game Shooting. The Virgina Attorney General specifically used the term "act of terrorism." Was the White Shooter charged with terrorism? No, he died in custody.
Obeidallah doesn't appreciate the connotation that Terrorists are specifically thought of as Muslims. So on top of Federal Charges, State Charges, Hate-Crime Charges, Incendiary Device Charges and on and on, Obeidallah wants the term Terrorist added on top of the other charges levied against criminals such as Dylan Roof. Fine let's do that. No argument here.
BUT, here's the deal with Obeidallah. He is a partisan hack. So we're going to go through with his dog and pony show and declare that whites are terrorists. In return, since America is filled with Trump-Lovin', Gun-Tottin', White Terrorists, he has to go to Saudi Arabia to declare these facts. In order to get his Dean Obeidallah Terrorist Bill passed, he has to say these words on foreign soil:
"I have a bill in America with my name on it. And it's going to pass the United States Congress and I'm going to show that Muslims aren't the only terrorists in the World. The Whites, the Whites are the terrorists, too!"
<wild cheering>
"And, and using the rights of Free Speech granted to me by the United States Constitution. I call for elections here in Saudi Arabia. Free Speech for all and Free Elections...."
Dean? Dean?
Where did you go Dean? I can't find you anywhere. You were talking and then you just disappeared. You used your American Free Speech Rights and then <poof>, gone right into the ether.
I bet you it was the evil Whites that got 'em.
Seriously though, I wish no Congressperson got death threats. The Dean Obeidallahs of the world are convinced that Trump is responsible for the nasty tone in politics today. Obeidallah is half right. Guess who's responsible for the other half?
Poll: Americans View Fake News as a Bigger Problem than Terrorism - Axios, June 5, 2019
Addendum: June 10, 2019
And then there's this, literally one day later.
Addendum II: June 12, 2019
In the arena of ideas, you can not like a person but concede that they are right.
Obeidallah was in the right to sue The Daily Stormer, they crossed the line.
And it was wrong for Stormer readers to harass Obeidallah.
When I read the Daily Beast Article, I was stunned by one thing in particular. According to the Beast, the Stormer article that slandered Obeidallah was viewed by 3.18 million people (!?!?!).....
Doesn't that seem really, really high for a site like that?