Ilhan Omar Fundraises Off Her Ouster from Foreign Affairs Committee
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Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, who was booted from the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday over her history of making antisemitic remarks, has already started fundraising off her ouster.
In an email on behalf of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Omar blasted House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy for his decision to remove her “after four proud years of service.”
“I want to be perfectly clear: This political stunt is a personal one — the result of years of xenophobic, Islamophobic, and racist attacks that started the moment I was elected,” the congresswoman said.
“Will you make a contribution — of any amount you can — so we have the resources required to stand up to Kevin McCarthy and his far-right Republican allies? I would not ask if your support were not so important to our success,” Omar added.
Donations, for user whose payment information is registered with Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue, will be divided between Omar’s reelection campaign and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The committee promotes radical progressive politicians such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and members of the “squad.”
Merchandise on the site includes t-shirts and buttons with slogans like, “Save Democracy, End the Filibuster,” “Ban Assault Weapons,” “Pro-Child, Pro-Choice,” and “A Student Loan Should Not Be a Life Sentence.”
Omar’s removal from the committee, she claimed, would enable the GOP’s “hatred and corruption, and promote fear and violence against Somali-Americans, Muslims, immigrants, and anyone else who shares my identity all across the country.”
The resolution to kick Omar off the committee, introduced by Representative Max Miller (R., Ohio.), one of two Jewish Republicans in the House, passed 218–211 largely along party lines.
“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 for years has come under fire from the GOP for the antisemitic comments she has made 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.”
A few years ago, Omar was also accused of downplaying the September 11 terrorist attacks, which she argued had been used to justify persecuting Muslims in America.
“For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,” Omar said at a Council on American-Islamic Relations event in March 2018. “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
