Rep. Ilhan Omar slams question on female genital mutilation: ‘I am quite disgusted’

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) lashed out on Tuesday at a progressive Muslim woman who asked the congresswoman a question about female genital mutilation, Breitbart reported.

Omar said that she was “quite disgusted” after being asked at the Muslim Caucus Education Collective to condemn the practice, which is common in Omar’s native Somalia.

“I am quite disgusted really, to be honest, that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to, because the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for [female genital mutilation],” she said, according to The Washington Examiner.

“Should I make a schedule?”

For Omar’s part, the Democrat has fumed — for years, in fact, before she was elected to Congress — about being asked to condemn Islamic terrorism and other evils often associated with Islam. Echoing her past remarks on the subject, Omar said she was “disgusted” when asked by Ani Osman-Zonneveld of Muslims for Progressive Values to condemn female genital mutilation.

Omar went on to complain about the “appalling” fact that all Muslims, like Omar and fellow “Squad” ally Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), are often asked to denounce the practices of Islamic extremists.

“Should I make a schedule? Like, does this need to be on repeat every five minutes? Should I be like, ‘So, today I forgot to condemn al-Qaida, so here’s the al-Qaida one. Today I forgot to condemn [female genital mutilation] so here it goes. Today I forgot to condemn Hamas so here it goes,’” Omar lamented. “It is a very frustrating question that comes up. You can look up my record. I’ve voted for bills doing exactly what you are asking me to do.”

She went on: “I have put out statements upon statements. I am quite disgusted really, to be honest, that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to, because the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for [female genital mutilation].” Take a look:

“Throwing red meat”

The strange thing about Omar’s response is that the questioner was a progressive Muslim herself. Indeed, the significance of Omar’s response might be seen through the lens of a comment by an ally from her “Squad,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). Pressley was recently criticized for appearing to suggest that all minorities should share “woke,” progressive dogmas, saying, “We don’t need black faces who don’t want to be a black voice.”

Some commentators have observed that despite Omar’s Islamic faith, Omar’s progressive political beliefs — including tax-payer funded abortion and LGBT rights — are strangely at odds with the orthodox beliefs of Islamic tradition. The incompatibility of Western, liberal values and some elements of Arab-Islamic culture is a continued preoccupation among conservatives and, it would seem, some progressives as well.

To Omar’s credit, it’s not fair to assume that she would support al-Qaida or such a horrid practice as female genital mutilation just because she happens to be a Muslim. But even Zonnevald criticized Omar for lashing out on Tuesday in a Facebook comment, saying that she “could have taken the opportunity to educate the audience instead of throwing red meat, the way Trump plays it,” a reference to Trump’s ongoing attacks on the “Squad.”

Zonnevald’s question was a reference to nine girls in Omar’s home state of Minnesota who were victims of the practice. According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 million women and girls are victims of female genital mutilation.

Although not exclusive to the Muslim world, the practice is common in East Africa, especially Somalia, where some 95% of girls are mutilated, Breitbart noted. The Center for Disease Control estimated that some 500,00 girls in the United States will be or have been subjected to the practice this year.