“McCarthy’s repeated singling out of me for contempt and hatred — including threatening to remove me from my committee — does nothing to address the issues our constituents are dealing with,” Omar said in a statement.
“What it has done is fuel fear and hatred of Somali-Americans and anyone who shares my identity and further divide us along race and ethnicity,” she added. “This is a continuation of an ongoing campaign against Muslim and African voices that Donald Trump’s party has sought to ban since he first ran for office.”
If McCarthy is elected speaker, he will not have the unilateral power to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. This requires a full House vote.
On Saturday night, McCarthy tweeted a clip of his Las Vegas appearance in which he said he “kept his word” to remove Omar.
“I remember what she said about Israel,” McCarthy told the crowd. “I remember what she said about the relationship. I remember very clearly that last year I assured you that as Speaker she would no longer be in foreign affairs. I kept my word.”
Omar has repeatedly been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks.
In early 2019, as a freshman, she apologized for suggesting that Israel’s allies in American politics were motivated by money rather than principle.
Her tweet saying “it’s all about Benjamin’s baby” — referring to the $100 bill — was immediately condemned by Republicans and fellow Democrats, especially Jewish members of Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democratic leadership called Omar’s “use of anti-Semitic tropes and accusations of bias against Israel supporters” highly offensive and insisted she apologize.
“Anti-Semitism is real, and I am grateful to Jewish allies and colleagues for educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,” Omar said at the time. “It was never my intention to offend my constituents or Jewish-Americans in general. … That’s why I expressly apologize.
On Monday, Omar accused the Republican Party of hypocrisy for allowing anti-Semitism within its ranks, and pointed to McCarthy’s accusation that wealthy Jewish liberals tried to “buy” the 2018 election. Omar said the Islamophobia and xenophobia of some of the most powerful Republicans in the country had put the lives and safety of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress at risk countless times.
“Whether it’s Marjorie Taylor Green holding a gun to my head in a campaign ad or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country (despite the fact that I’ve been a US citizen for over 20 years) ), this outpouring of hatred has resulted in hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family,” she said in the statement.
“At the same time, they openly tolerate anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred and racism in their own party,” Omar added.
In February 2021, the House of Representatives voted to remove representatives along party lines. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) sees her commission assignment as a condemnation of support for extremist beliefs.
Green has been an outspoken supporter of the QAnon ideology, a vast and violent network of false claims that is inspiring the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In addition, she posted comments on social media that some mass shootings were orchestrated by supporters of gun control, that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by government forces, and that a Jewish cabal used space beams to spark a deadly mass shooting. wildfire.
McCarthy said Green would get her preferred committee job when the GOP secures a majority in January.
In October, Trump attacked American Jews in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying that Jews in the United States must “come together” and show more gratitude to the State of Israel “before it’s too late.”
American Jews have long been accused of maintaining a secret allegiance to Israel rather than the United States, and Trump’s post leaned toward anti-Semitic tropes, suggesting that American Jews should show more appreciation for Israel because of their religious beliefs.
Trump also complained in the post that “no president” has done more for Israel than he has done, but that Christian evangelicals “do more than people who practice Judaism, especially those living in the United States.” Appreciate that”