The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), America’s oldest pro-Israel group, issued a statement Monday morning denouncing the antisemitic statements of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and calling for her to be removed from her committee assignments in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appointed the first-term Omar to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, among other assignments, last month.
Omar tweeted Sunday that Congress was paid to defend Israel — by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), among others. Jewish leaders, and some Democrats, were outraged.
ZOA president Morton Klein said in Monday’s statement: “These tweets below from Rep. Ilhan Omar, along with several comments that she has made over the years are pure, unadulterated anti-Semitism.
“The Zionist Organization of America calls on House Democrat leadership to (i) immediately remove Rep. Omar from her committee assignments; and (ii) call an immediate vote on Rep. Lee Zeldin’s H.Res 72, Rejecting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred in the United States and around the world.”
H. Res. 72 mentions Rep. Omar by name, referring to an earlier statement she made: “Whereas, on November 16, 2012, Representative Ilhan Omar, who also supports the BDS movement, tweeted, Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 16, 2012
(Omar has acknowledged that the tweet is offensive but has refused to apologize or delete it.)
Others also called for Omar to be removed from her committees, including House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Muslim reformer Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser:
House Democrat leaders should condemn this anti-Semitism and immediately remove @IlhanMN from the House Foreign Affairs Committee pic.twitter.com/IYAoXEGtld
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) February 11, 2019
As an American Muslim, I plead that this is only a good first step to be followed by a swift sanction against @IlhanMN for bigotry unfit for the US Congress with removal from all committees. Ignoring this would bring the “bigotry of low expectations” to a new low for Muslims. https://t.co/szawtKBQlV
— M. Zuhdi Jasser زهدي جاسر (@DrZuhdiJasser) February 11, 2019
The precedent for censuring a representative and removing him or her from committees was set last month when the Republican leadership and the Democrat-controlled House acted against Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for comments he made to the New York Times in which he appeared to accept white supremacy and white nationalism.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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