Ilhan Omar says Republicans don’t want a Muslim in Congress

Muslim US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has criticized House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), saying Republicans don’t want a Muslim in Congress.

McCarthy has vowed to remove Omar from her committee posts over her condemnation of Israel’s war crimes.

Omar hit back at McCarthy and his Republican Party, saying they "use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me."

Omar on Sunday said some Republicans are “OK with Islamophobia” in response to questions about efforts by McCarthy to block her from continuing to sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“You remember Donald Trump coming into my state and saying, ‘Muslims, Somali refugees are infiltrating our country.’ You remember [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-Ga.] coming to Congress after [Rep.] Rashida [Tlaib (D-Mich.)] and I got sworn in and saying, ‘Muslims are infiltrating Congress.’ You remember [Rep. Lauren] Boebert [R-Colo.] saying that I was a terrorist. What did McCarthy do? He said, ‘She apologized, and we don’t have to worry about her Islamophobia. That never happened,'” Omar said on CNN.

“And so these people are OK with Islamophobia. They’re OK with trafficking in their own ways in antisemitism. They are not OK with having a Muslim have a voice on that committee,” Omar said. 

McCarthy attacked Omar, the first Somali American and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, for removal from House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar’s removal requires a vote by the entire chamber, while Swalwell’s and Schiff’s removals could be made by McCarthy alone due to rules around the Intelligence Committee.

“If they want to debate political differences, and that’s something that we should all have the opportunity to do so, but to smear someone and their character, their love for their country and the work that they get to do on a committee is wrong,” Omar said.

“And it is politically motivated. And, in some cases, it’s motivated by the fact that many of these members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

Along with US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the two have triggered a widespread debate in the US about Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians and American aid to the regime.

Tlaib and Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, are outspoken critics of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and vocal supporters of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement. The two called “Israel” an “apartheid state” guilty of war crimes.

The 37-year-old US citizen and lawmaker is originally from Somalia and represents Minneapolis, Minnesota, a district with a large Somali population.

MG