Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, has always been controversial. On the one hand, because she professes Muslim beliefs, she has earned the hatred of many of her Republican colleagues and some Democrats. On the other, because she has always opposed the existence of the State of Israel, a problem in American politics. The Republicans always had it in the collimator.
After being elected for the first time in 2019, she managed to join the House Foreign Relations Committee, where she always criticized the United States’ ties with the Hebrew state.
This Thursday morning, with a new majority in the lower house, the Republicans managed to remove the 40-year-old congresswoman born in Somalia from the commission.
Omar’s removal followed a threat by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy of California to retaliate if his party won a majority in the House by removing Democrats whom Republicans deemed unfit to serve. part of the committees.
Last week, he unilaterally removed Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both from California, from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where members are appointed and therefore not subject to a vote.
McCarthy’s decision to force Omar’s removal, a move resisted by some of his base, demonstrated his determination to ingratiate himself with the far-right Republican base. Former President Donald Trump said in 2019 that Omar and three other progressive women of color should “go back” to her country, even though she was the only one not born in the United States.
Thursday’s vote was also an attempt by McCarthy to curry favor with pro-Israel groups and evangelical voters and drive a wedge between Democrats. Many had condemned Omar’s statements about Israel.
Omar apparently equated the “atrocities” committed by the US military with those of terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Hamas; he afterwards said that he had not intended to compare them.
Yet during an unusually crude debate on the House floor, leading Democrats, including many Jewish members, joined Omar’s closest friends in Congress to defend her in passionate and sometimes emotional speeches. They accused Republicans of hypocrisy, xenophobia and racism for attacking her without saying anything about anti-Semitic comments from members of her own party, some of whom have associated themselves with Holocaust deniers.
“There are double standards being applied here,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “Something just doesn’t add up. And what is the difference between representative Omar and these members? Could it be the way it looks? Could it be their religious practices?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was more direct on Omar’s case. “This is about attacking women of color in the United States of America,” Ocasio-Cortez said during brief but heated remarks.
Republicans were comparatively sober when they defended Omar’s removal.
“People who hold such hateful views should rightly be excluded from that kind of committee,” said Rep. Mike Lawler of New York. “Words matter. Rhetoric matters. It leads to harm, so the congresswoman must be held accountable for her words and her actions.”
Still, the process of corralling the votes to oust Omar highlighted the challenges McCarthy faces as he tries to deliver on his promised agenda with a slim majority that has already proven unruly.
