Omar Punished by GOP Over Recent Anti-Jewish Remarks

Taking even a brief, cursory look around America today, we can see that bigotry and antisemitism are on the rise.  Hate crimes continue to flare up from coast to coast, with anti-Jewish violence occupying a large portion of this unfortunate spotlight.

This week, the Republican Party did their part to quash this trend of hate by punishing one of Congress’ most outspoken antisemitic lawmakers.

The House voted Thursday to kick Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a decision that Republicans vowed to take because of Omar’s history of antisemitic and anti-American remarks.

The resolution was approved in a 218-211 vote after a heated debate in which Democrats accused Republicans of racism and hypocrisy and claimed that the GOP is only policing Democrats for questionable behavior. Omar and several other Democrats openly accused Republicans of racism.

Omar attempted to misrepresent the reasoning for her dismissal.

“I am Muslim, I am an immigrant, and interestingly, from Africa,” Omar said. “Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy, or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced?”

The Republicans explained the real reason for her punishment, however.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said she has seen Omar’s antisemitism and anti-Americanism firsthand.

“As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I’ve sat there and heard the representative actually spew anti-American rhetoric as well,” Malliotakis said of Omar. “I’ve been in that committee room where the representative equates Israel and the United States to Hamas and the Taliban. Absolutely unacceptable for a member of that committee.”

The Republican justification for removing Omar from the committee was spelled out in the four-page resolution. It states that in 2019, Omar suggested that Jewish people were buying U.S. political support when she said, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” which struck many — including many Democrats — as an antisemitic trope.

Other Democrats similarly attempted to suggest that Omar was being targeted because of her ethnic background, but it appears as though the only prejudice considered was the Minnesota lawmaker’s own bigotry.