US: Republicans Oust Democrat Ilhan Omar from Powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee

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Some Republicans, including House Speaker McCarthy, argued Omar should not serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee owing to her past comments about Israel that in some cases have been criticised by members of both parties as antisemitic, but Democrats viewed her ouster as revenge for their voting in 2021 to remove Republicans Greene and Gosar from their committee assignments for violent rhetoric and posts.

The United States House of Representatives Republicans on Thursday ousted Democrat Ilhan Omar from her committee post over her past remarks about Israel that were widely condemned as antisemitic, in a sign of escalating tensions in the US Congress.

The deeply divided House voted 218-211 along party lines to remove Omar from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee with Republicans citing the 2019 remarks for which she later apologised. GOP Rep. David Joyce of Ohio voted “present.”

Republicans said the decision to remove her from the committee sent a strong statement against antisemitism. But Democrats and 40-year-old Omar said it was an act of political revenge after two Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, were ousted from committees in 2020 when Democrats held a House majority.

Omar, who is the only African-born member of Congress and one of the only Muslim women in the House, also suggested she was being removed because she is a Muslim woman who arrived the US as a refugee from Somalia.

“Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy?” the Minnesota Democrat said shortly before the Thursday vote.

A defiant Omar, who was in line to be the top Democrat on the foreign affairs panel’s Africa subcommittee, also said moments before her ouster: “My leadership and voice will not be diminished if I am not on this committee for one term. My voice will get louder and stronger.”

“So take your vote or not – I am here to stay, and I am here to be a voice against harms around the world and advocate for a better world,” she added.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffrie, who accused Republicans of seeking “political revenge”, tweeted after the House vote that he intends to appoint Omar to a seat “on the House Budget Committee where she will defend Democratic values against right-wing extremism."

Omar is one of three high-profile Democrats to lose a committee assignment under the new House majority, which is led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who vowed last year that if Republicans won back the House majority, he would strip Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell as well as Omar of committee assignments.

The Somali-born apologised in 2019 for implying money was behind support for Israel, remarks condemned as antisemitic by then-Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi as they invoked bigoted stereotypes about Jewish people using money for influence.

“Antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes,” Omar said in a statement at the time.