Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has made a name for herself over the last several weeks — and not in a good way.
After the freshman congresswoman made comments that many have called anti-Semitic, the leader of a Christian group that supports Jews has started a petition calling for Omar’s immediate resignation.
“Ilhan Omar is waging an unholy war against the Jewish people from Congress,” said Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of the group that launched the campaign, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN). “She should not be representing Americans.”
Fighting Back
According to Cardoza-Moore, PJTN seeks to “educate Christians about their Biblical responsibility to stand with their Jewish people against the rise of anti-Semitism.” To that end, she is asking for signatures on a petition demanding the resignation of Omar, who, according to Cardoza-Moore, “recently made some anti-Semitic statements and has communicated her support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
Earlier this month, Omar faced backlash from both sides of the political aisle after she invoked an offensive Jewish stereotype to explain lawmakers’ ongoing support for Israel. She tweeted:
It’s all about the Benjamins baby 🎶 https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019
At the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Omar issued an apology following her tweet in which she acknowledged that anti-Semitism “is real” and added that she has enlisted the help of “Jewish allies and colleagues” to educate her “on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
“My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole,” Omar said. But she went on to reaffirm “the problematic role” of pro-Israel lobbyists in American politics, including by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a bipartisan Jewish lobbying organization that seeks a close relationship between Israel and the U.S.
Moreover, Omar said throughout her campaign that she felt the BDS movement — which “works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians” — was “counteractive.” But the representative’s campaign told a website called Muslim Girl after the election that Omar “believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.”
Time To Go
It was these actions that prompted Cardoza-Moore to act, the PJTN president explained in a recent video. “Ilhan Omar tricked her electorate into voting for her by lying about her support for Israel,” Cardoza-Moore said.
Cardoza-Moore, whose petition has been dubbed “The Million Signature March,” went on to assert that Omar “supports the destruction of the State of Israel and is a virulent antisemite with close connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. We cannot afford to stand by as she continues to sow religious hatred,” she said.
And it wasn’t just Cardoza-Moore calling out Omar. The White House also chimed in on the controversy, with Vice President Mike Pence calling Omar’s apology “inadequate” and insisting that she should “face consequences.”
.@IlhanMN tweets were a disgrace & her apology was inadequate. Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress, much less the Foreign Affairs Committee. Those who engage in anti-Semitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words.
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 13, 2019
President Donald Trump expressed similar sentiments in a cabinet meeting earlier this month, where he asserted that “anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress” and called for her resignation.
“I think she should either resign from Congress, or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the president said. And Cardoza-Moore would no doubt agree.
“[Omar] is about to learn that the Jewish people don’t stand alone, millions of people of faith and conscience stand with the Jewish people,” Cardoza-Moore said. “We will neither sleep nor slumber as she uses the heart of American democracy and freedom to defame God’s chosen people and God’s chosen land.”
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