(DailyVantage.com) – Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is once again under fire for alleged anti-semitism. This time around, however, Omar’s past of criticizing Israel and Zionism may result in her being removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
If her detractors are successful, the congresswoman would be losing a crucial committee assignment in the new 118th Congress.
Omar, on several occasions, has denied claims that she is anti-semitic. In February of 2019, Omar suggested that bipartisan support for the state of Israel was driven entirely by financial gain. In a now infamous tweet about political support for the Israeli government, Omar said “it’s all about the Benjamins baby”.
The tweet elicited substantial blowback and condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans.
Last Sunday, the tweet resurfaced in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash who pressed Omar about her harsh anti-Israel rhetoric. Asked about the intentions behind her choice of words in the 2019 tweet, Omar responded “I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money.”
This wasn’t, however, the only time Omar has made questionable remarks about Jews and Israel. In 2012, years before she was elected to Congress in Minnesota, Omar tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
Not all in her party, however, think that these past remarks should disqualify her from serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Most notably, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MASS) defended Omar against calls to have her removed from the key committee assignment: “It’s shameful that Republicans are trying to remove her after smearing her for years.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (D-CA), however, remains determined to boot Omar from the committee. McCarthy, if he is able to convince enough of his colleagues in the GOP that Omar ought to be jettisoned from her assignment, will be doing so just one week after expelling Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the House Intelligence Committee.
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