Rep Omar removed from Foreign Affairs Panel over 'anti-Semitism'

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The US House of Representatives passed Thursday a resolution expelling Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee on account of her divisive comments regarding a variety of subjects, including the relationship between the United States and the Israeli occupation.

Omar was expelled from the Foreign Affairs Committee after a vote was held on the matter, which 218 voting in favor of her removal and 211 voting against it. The results came along partisan lines.

According to the resolution, Omar promoted so-called "anti-Semitic stereotypes". It cited a February 2019 statement by Omar that saw her saying the Jewish lobby was purchasing political support in the United States.

"It's all about the Benjamins [$100 bills], baby," Omar is quoted as having said on the ties between Washington and "Tel Aviv".

The resolution also cited a March 2019 comment from Omar that sparked a conservative media frenzy a few months after she took office when she praised the work of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in a way that was framed as dismissing the attacks themselves.

The Foreign Affairs Committee is viewed by other nations as speaking for Congress and Omar’s comments have brought "dishonor" to the House of Representatives, the resolution said.

"I didn't come to Congress to be silent… My leadership and voice will not be diminished if I am not on this committee for one term. My voice will get louder and stronger and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been," Omar said during remarks on the resolution.

Omar announced on Tuesday the forming of a US-Africa Policy Working Group, being a Somalian refugee, as she was uncertain about her post within the Foreign Affairs Committee.

According to the representative, the working group will focus on consistent engagement with experts and policymakers working with and in Africa.

The Washington Post on Monday reported that over the last three Congresses, beginning in 2019, 2021, and 2023, a number of House members have been removed from committees on which they served.

Read next: Targeting of Ilhan Omar in Congress linked to her religion: WP

Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House Speaker this year. In short order, he announced the removal of a number of Democratic representatives from key committees: Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Swalwell and Schiff were targeted because the former was linked to a Chinese intelligence official and the latter was a key figure in the 2019 impeachment campaign against President Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post. 

Who is Ilhan Omar?

Omar was elected to Congress in 2018 and was sworn in on the Quran, as a practicing Muslim, in January 2019. In no time, a right-wing social-media meme emerged falsely claiming that she had committed treason.

She was subjected to a slew of baseless claims in the months that followed, many of which stemmed from her history as an African refugee.
 
By 2021, McCarthy had embraced the obvious media value of attacking Schiff and Omar, stating that if the GOP regained control of the House, he would remove Omar from her committee due to her "antisemitic, anti-American views," according to the Washington Post. 

Labeling Omar as "anti-American" came in response to a widely condemned tweet from Omar in which she condemned the unthinkable atrocities committed by the US and "Israel," according to the report.

Many on the right saw Omar as having suspect loyalties from the start, for no apparent reason other than her religion, the report stated. Various comments from Omar were stapled onto that narrative, some obviously problematic, others exaggerated in the conservative media.

Omar became a symbol of the right's framing of their opponents as hard-left, anti-"Israel," and anti-American, fueled in part by what former Donald Trump said about her religion. This is how and why Trump elevated her, and by doing so, he created political value for other Republicans by targeting her in the same way, according to the report.

However, WashPo suggested that had Omar not made those comments about "Israel," she was unlikely to have been targeted by McCarthy now. Had she made those remarks if she hadn't been a practicing Muslim who had sparked right-wing ire from the start, this moment would most likely look very different.