Rep. Ilhan Omar. Source : Wikimedia Commons (Used under Creative Commons)
The Republican controlled House have passed a resolution which will see Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar booted from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The decision comes as a response to anti-Israel comments Ms Omar made in 2019, however Democrats have cited the decision as “racist”.
The vote outcome was 218-211.
One Republican representative voted only as “present”.
Four representatives did not vote, three of them Republican, one Democrat.
No Republicans voted nay, and no Democrats voted yea.
Ms Omar said the decision to vote her out from the Foreign Affairs Committee was not a surprise, considering she is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress who also wears a hijab.
“I am Muslim, I am an immigrant, and interestingly, from Africa.” Ms 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?” She said.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took to Twitter to respond to the vote, where he vowed to seat Ms Omar on another committee.
“I will move immediately to seat Rep. Omar on the House Budget Committee where she will defend Democratic values against right-wing extremism.” Mr Jeffries said.
Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said she had been present for some of the remarks that have led to the vote.
“As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I’ve sat there and heard the representative actually spew anti-American rhetoric as well.” Ms Malliotakis said.
“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.” She said.
The statements Ms Omar is being ousted for the committee for include suggestions that Jewish people were buying political support in the U.S., quoting “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby”, which has been seen by members of both sides of the political aisle as anti-Semitic.
She has also accused some Jewish Americans as having “allegiance to a foreign country”, and has described the 9/11 attacks as “some people did something”, which received heavy criticism afterwards.
Ms Omar, in 2019, responded to the criticism over her 9/11 remarks where she said she was referring to the treatment Muslim’s have faced in America after the attack occurred.
“Many Americans found themselves now having their civil rights stripped from them, and so what I was speaking to was the fact that as a Muslim, not only was I suffering as an American who was attacked on that day, but the next day I woke up as my fellow Americans were now treating me as a suspect.” She said.
Ms Omar also apologised in 2019 for her comments regarding money and Israel.
Some have seen the move to boot Ms Omar as retribution for Democrats removing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committees in 2020.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy said the decision was not retribution, and it was purely made on the belief that Ms Omar’s prior comments made her unfit to stand on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We’re not removing her from other committees.” Mr McCarthy said.
“We just do not believe when it comes to foreign affairs, especially with the responsibility of that position around the world, with the comments that you make, she shouldn’t serve there.” He said.
Ms Omar is notoriously a member of the “Squad”, a used to describe Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
The Squad has since been joined by others.
