Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) may have taken her latest bigoted tirade too far. Now, the Somali-American congresswoman is facing pressure to resign from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Omar can no longer simply dismiss her antisemitic remarks as opposition to the state of Israel. Republican lawmakers, pro-Israel groups, and even Omar’s Democratic colleagues are now calling for the Minnesota legislator to be expelled from the committee.
Wearing out her welcome
So far, Omar has demonstrated remarkable resilience for a public figure repeatedly accused of making bigoted slurs. Her latest controversial statement was made just last week, when she accused Israel supporters of maintaining “allegiance to a foreign country,” a classic antisemitic trope.
House Appropriations Committee chairwoman Nita Lowey — a Jewish Democrat from New York — called on Omar to retract her offensive statement. “I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel. I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful,” Lowey wrote on Saturday.
Rep. Eliot Engel (R-NY), who shares a seat with Omar on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also believes that Omar should be officially censured for her remarks. But some lawmakers believe that this formal act doesn’t go far enough in condemning Omar — a repeat offender.
“She [Omar] is definitely anti-Semitic and Nita’s right, but Nita doesn’t go far enough,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told Fox News, adding, “I think she needs to be removed from her committee assignment. That’s the least we can do.”
Biggs is joined by 14 Jewish and pro-Israel organizations who wrote a letter asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to repudiate Omar’s committee assignment.
“In light of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent anti-Semitic tweets, statements, and address before Islamic Relief USA on Saturday, February 23rd, we, the undersigned organizations, request that you immediately remove her as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the coalition wrote.
On Monday, the Republican Jewish Coalition insisted that Omar “must be stripped of her membership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.” They called on Speaker Pelosi to take immediate action.
Ilhan Omar must be stripped of her membership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. @SpeakerPelosi is the only person that can do this, and it is her responsibility to do this as the head of Omar’s party. Call Pelosi today and tell her to remove @Ilhan Omar!
CALL: 866-540-4652 pic.twitter.com/SLWkAMXdIE
— RJC (@RJC) March 4, 2019
Enough is enough
Omar’s dual loyalty smear follows closely on the heels of another antisemitic controversy involving the freshman Democrat. On Feb. 10, she tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” to explain why U.S. policy-makers defend Israel. House Democrats condemned the offensive slur, and Omar promised to educate herself on “the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
In 2012, before Omar was an elected official, she explained in a now-deleted tweet how “Israel has hypnotized the world,” and even called the Jewish state “evil.”
Omar has been unrepentant since her latest bigoted blunder, and she responded to criticism from Rep. Lowey by doubling down on her suggestion that congressional lawmakers are expected pledge allegiance to Israel upon taking office. “I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee,” she wrote, denying that there was anything controversial about her slanderous comments.
The definition of a bigot
However, the U.S. State Department would disagree. In a document designed to provide a “working definition of anti-Semitism,” the agency provides just five “contemporary examples” of anti-Jewish bigotry, two of which Ms. Omar has committed in the last month. The first:
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective— especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or
other societal institutions.
The congresswoman’s tweets about how Israel “hypnotized the world” and pays to stifle criticism among U.S. lawmakers certainly qualifies as “allegations” about “the power of Jews as a collective.” But Omar’s latest dual loyalty slander also fits the bill, which the State Department refers to as, “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations.”
Omar promised her constituents that she would study up on the “painful history” of antisemitism. Yet, just days later, she managed to repeat the same offensive mistake. It’s time for the congresswoman for Minnesota to exit the House Foreign Affairs Committee — before she compromises U.S.-Israeli relations and offends more Jewish American citizens.
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