After years of making antisemitic comments, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar was removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a vote that went along party lines, with Republicans at 218 and Democrats at 211.
Immediately following Rep. Omar’s removal, fellow Squad member Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez gave a speech accusing Republicans of targeting Omar for being black, Muslim, and a woman. But the facts negate what Ocasio-Cortez suggested in her speech. And Omar’s removal suggests that at least some in Congress are committed to stopping hatred and antisemitism.
To start, Omar was removed for antisemitic comments. Her tweets regurgitated the centuries-old trope that Jews are obsessed with money and compared the U.S. and Israel to the Taliban and Hamas. Her removal was long overdue, and people like her have no place in setting U.S. foreign policy.
After her removal, Ocasio-Cortez gave a lively speech stating, “I think one of the things that we should talk about here is also one of the disgusting legacies after 9/11 — has been the targeting and racism against Muslim Americans throughout the United States of America.” She continued her rant and said, “There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party’s continued attack, except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body.”
First, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim woman, has kept all her committee assignments, despite spreading misinformation about both the Holocaust and Palestinians. Indeed, anti-Muslim hate crimes spiked following 9/11, but thankfully have since declined. Hatred against Muslims exists, and it is wrong, but the fact that Omar is Muslim is not a hall pass for her antisemitism, nor was it the reason she was booted from her committee.
Ocasio-Cortez has even less reason to be concerned because, according to Pew, this Congress has a record number of women, and the House is starting to resemble the racial and ethnic makeup of the American population.
For example, the percentage of House members who are black, Native American, and Alaska Native are roughly on par with their shares of the U.S. population. This is a positive sign that Congress represents Americans of all backgrounds and does little to support Ocasio-Cortez’s assertion that the House of Representatives inculcates a hostile culture toward women and minorities.
Last and certainly not least, white male Republican Steve King made comments comparing immigrants to “dirt,” and he was quickly removed from his committee assignments. All elected representatives should be held accountable for their words, irrespective of their sex, skin color, or religion.
Removing Omar from House Foreign Affairs was the right choice; her skin color, religion, and sex have nothing to do with it. In fact, removing her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee suggests that some elected officials are setting a standard that hatred has no place in the House — or anywhere in America.
Ellie Krasne is a visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
