House Votes to Remove Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee over Antisemitic Remarks
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The House of Representatives voted Thursday to remove Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee over her history of making antisemitic remarks.
The resolution, which passed 218–211 largely along party lines, was introduced by Representative Max Miller (R., Ohio.), one of two Jewish Republicans in the House.
“Omar has disqualified herself from serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a panel that is viewed by nations around the world as speaking for Congress on matters of international importance and national security,” he said in announcing the resolution.
Omar “cannot be an objective decision-maker on the Foreign Affairs Committee given her biases against Israel and against the Jewish people,” Miller added.
Omar has made several antisemitic comments throughout her career. Before entering public office, in 2012, Omar tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
Although Omar apologized for the comments, she has subsequently made additional antisemitic remarks.
In February 2019, Omar argued that American support of Israel was “all about the Benjamins.” Two years later, Omar tweeted: “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” That same year, Omar made comments many interpreted as questioning the loyalty of American Jews, a well-known antisemitic trope.
Some House Democrats have argued that Republican efforts to remove Omar are petty. “This is about vengeance. This is about spite. This is about politics,” Representative James McGovern (D., Mass.) said.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also defended Omar, denouncing the Republican attempt to oust the Minnesota representative as an effort to target “women of color.”
A handful of Republicans leading up to the vote were opposed or were ambivalent about the prospects of removing Omar, including representatives Ken Buck of Colorado and Victora Sparty of Indiana.
“I think that we should not engage in this tit for tat,” Buck told NBC earlier.
However, both Buck and Spartz reversed course and voted with the party Thursday afternoon.
Three other representatives, Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), David Valadao (R., Calif.), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), who earlier stated they were undecided, voted in favor of the motion.
Still, Omar insists that the rhetoric she used was not out of malice or spite. Asked about her past comments by Dana Bash on CNN on Sunday, Omar says she has learned “a lot.”
“I did not, or was not, aware that the word ‘hypnotize’ was a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money.”
During the same interview, Omar said, “I might have used words at the time that I didn’t understand were trafficking in antisemitism. When that was brought to my attention, I apologized. I owned up to it. That’s the kind of person that I am.”
Omar dismissed the Republican attempt to remove her as “politically motivated.”
“It’s motivated by the fact that many of these members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
