The full House of Representatives voted to remove Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Relations Committee. They didn’t remove Omar from every committee like was done to Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who was banned from serving on any committee. Or Rep Steve King (R-IA), whose racist comments led him to be banned from serving on any committee. In the case of King, the ban came from his own party.
The resolution to take Omar off of Foreign Relations allows her to serve on any other committee except Foreign Relations. Democrats are saying the GOP move to oust her from that committee was revenge for the Republicans, who were banned from any committee by the Democrats. The question they don’t answer is, “Why does it make sense for a woman who hates Jews to influence the way the House treats the Jewish state?”
It doesn’t matter to those Democrats that Omar publicly made anti-Semitic comments.
In 2012, an Omar tweet (since removed) accused Israel of “evil doings” and said that Israel had “hypnotized the world.”
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
A Feb, 2019 Omar tweet (since removed) claimed that congress’ support of Israel was purchased by AIPAC.
It’s all about the Benjamins baby ???? https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019
Any complaint of a specific Israeli policy is not necessarily anti-Semitic. But making a mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegation about all Jews and/or Israel is anti-Semitic. “I do not like how Netanyahu treats the Temple Mount” is not anti-Semitic. “Israel has hypnotized the world” is anti-Semitic.
Three weeks after the Benjamin’s comments, Omar tweeted an anti-Semitic trope that’s been around since the Pharoah who enslaved the nascent Jews in Biblical times–Dual loyalty;
Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on a committee. The people of the 5th elected me to serve their interests. I am sure we agree on that!
After those and hateful comments outside Twitter, there was a movement in Congress to punish Rep Omar. But the leftists in the Democratic Party caucus objected. Democratic Party leadership worked to produce a solid non-binding resolution saying that Antisemitism is terrible. Buf Pelosi had to back off because the liberals objected, but they came up with something as tepid as bathwater that’s been sitting around for a week.
Majority Whip James Clyburn, who is African-American worked to protect Omar. He spoke about her experience in Sudan and in Kenyan refugee camps and, in the process, slammed the children of Shoah victims who dared to preserve the memory of their parents’ suffering because Omar’s experience was worse than the people who suffered during the Holocaust and their children. Since then, Clyburn continued to debase the Holocaust, but no one objected. I wish someone would give Clyburn an all-expenses paid Tour of Yad Vashem.
After those and other hateful comments outside Twitter. there was a movement by some in Congress to separate themselves from Rep Omar’s Antisemitism. There was a movement in Congress to publicly slam Rep Omar’s hatred. But the leftists in the Democratic Party caucus objected. So the Democratic Party leadership worked to produce a strong non-binding resolution saying that Antisemitism is terrible. When the liberal wing of the party objected wing. Therefore Pelosi had to back off. The Democratic party leadership finally came up with something. It was as tepid as bathwater that’s been sitting around for a week.
Pelosi and the spineless Democratic Party leadership couldn’t muster the courage to stand up to Omar’s Antisemitism. Instead, they passed a generic resolution saying being mean to others is wrong. Really? I learned that lesson as a child watching programs such as Romper Room, Howdy Doody, and Captain Kangaroo.
As for the Jew-hating Rep Omar, she not only voted against the measure but celebrated it as a step toward fighting Islamophobia. Omar and the other anti-Semites in the Democratic Party celebrated a message to America that Jew hatred is okay.
The Democratic party named different types of hatred that weren’t there. If someone calls the terrorism coming from the radical Islamic community Islamist terrorism, radical Islamic Islamist terrorism, they are Islamophobic. Those who disagreed with President Barack Obama’s policies were branded as racist. But that same party, the Democrats, refused to recognize Antisemitism.
To be honest, that tepid resolution more than hurt. It’s created a pit in my stomach that still hasn’t gone away. Usually, I can separate my emotions from the goings-on in DC, but this was different. It wasn’t a political loss. It was a message from the Democratic Party-led House of Representatives which said that my wife, my two kids, me, and the other Jews living In the United States do not matter.
Ilhan Omar was not removed from one committee because of some sort of revenge. The Democrats’ objections continued their policy that Jews don’t matter.
When Bush #41 ran for reelection, his secretary of state James Baker told him, ” f**k the Jews. They won’t vote for us anyway.” Sadly they are probably correct. But American Jews overwhelmingly vote for Democrats in every election, with their objection to tossing the anti-Semitic Omar off a committee that provides direction about policy toward the Jewish state. Democrats are saying, “f**k the Jews. They will vote for us whatever we do.” Sadly, that’s probably correct.
