Ilhan Omar & Anti-Semitism: Does It Have a Place in Congress?
Ilhan Omar apologists are fuming that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is removing the congresswoman from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
McCarthy is fulfilling a promise he made last year. At that time, he said if he became speaker, he would boot Omar from the committee. McCarthy made the reason clear: “her repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks.”
Progressive pundits and their allies are having a hard time accepting this simple fact and have been gaslighting the public citing the “real reasons” for McCarthy’s decision.
One contingent insists that McCarthy is retaliating for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s removal of GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from their committee assignments.
This is a deliberate misreading of McCarthy’s motives, as the speaker himself has made clear. Rather than retaliation, McCarthy stated he is removing Omar from the committee based on a precedent set by Pelosi.
Up until Pesoli’s tenure, opposition party members were not removed by the speaker for “offending views.” Pelosi, however, changed that. Ironically, one of the offending views Pelosi removed Taylor Greene for was spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Ilhan Omar checks the same box.
Anti-Semitic History of Ilhan Omar
A brief history of Ihan Omar’s anti-Semitism includes:
During her campaign for her first congressional term, Omar indicated that she did not support the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) movement against Israel. Support for the BDS movement falls under the U.S.-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism. Within days after her election, Omar announced that, in fact, she did support BDS. During her first term in Congress, Omar introduced a pro-BDS resolution in Congress.
In 2012, Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense against terrorists from Gaza who were increasingly and prolifically firing rockets at Israel’s civilian population. During the eight-day conflict, Omar tweeted a well-worn anti-Semitic trope about Jews controlling world events, posting, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
In May 2018, during her first congressional campaign, a commenter on Twitter cited the above tweet and called her a “Jew hater.” Ilhan Omar responded, labeling Israel an apartheid regime, an anti-Semitic epithet according to the above IHRA definition of anti-Semitisim.
In 2019 while in Congress, Omar set off a firestorm tweeting that American lawmakers were being paid off to be pro-Israel. “It’s all about the Benjamins,” she posted, invoking Benjamin Franklin who is on the $100 bill. When asked who was providing the payoffs, Omar answered, “AIPAC!” i.e., Jewish money, another common anti-Semitic trope.
In 2021, Omar equated Israel and the United States with some of the worst terrorists in the world. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," she tweeted.
Ilhan Omar: the Victim
A second contingent of pundits invoked the victimhood narrative to explain McCarthy’s decision to remove Omar from the committee. These commentators trotted out a variety of the “usual suspects” – religion, race, gender, country of origin – to explain why McCarthy kicked Omar off the committee.
Writing on MSNBC.com, Ja’han Jones first gives lip service to the retaliation ruse. But his real target is “ring-wing hatemongers” who he says have been seeking “for years” to “other-ize” Omar, along with fellow anti-Semitic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
The reason for this “other-ization?” Jones disingenuously says it’s because, in 2018, Omar and Tlaib:
“became the first Muslim women elected to Congress … both have predictably been portrayed as anti-American via racist tropes and conspiracy theories. Both lawmakers have also faced allegations of antisemitism for their criticism of the Israeli government.”
Ilhan Omar explained her removal by first playing the race card. Later (see below), she played the religion card. In an MSNBC interview with the congresswoman, Jones reports that Ilhan Omar:
“noted that being the first African-born member of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Africa has given her ‘the opportunity to not only represent my constituents but the voice of so many people who have never had a voice on the Foreign Affairs Committee.’ ”
More Claims of Victimhood
Another pundit, Rowaida Abdelaziz followed Jones’ lead. Writing in the Huff Post, Abdelaziz first declares that Ilhan Omar’s removal from the committee is a retaliatory act. But the reputed reasons, she says, follow this narrative:
“A refugee from Somalia and the first African-born member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Omar is a frequent target for members of the GOP. Republicans have often claimed Omar… is an antisemite. But Omar said she believes McCarthy wants her off committees because she’s Muslim.”
“ ‘I do not actually think that he has a reason outside of me being Muslim and thinking I should not be,’ Omar told HuffPost. “If you look at the comments from Republicans, it’s precisely for only that reason.”
Anti-Semitism Denied
A third contingent simply denies the reality of Omar’s anti-Semitism altogether. This contingent, which consists of progressive Jewish groups, says that none of Omar’s previous statements or deeds indicate that she is anti-Semitic or even anti-Israel!
Instead, they claim that McCarthy's decision to remove Ilhan Omar from the committee is because McCarthy himself is an anti-Semite who is in the habit of “rampant promotion of antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.”
All three groups blatantly and dishonestly ignore Omar’s transparent antisemitism, which is front, center and documented. Ilhan Omar -- and Kevin McCarthy -- should be judged on the facts, not the assumptions of pundits.