Democrat Ilhan Omar ousted from House Foreign Affairs Committee for her anti-Semitic comments

Republicans, who now hold the majority in the House after the midterm elections in November, removed Democrat Ilhan Omar from the US House Foreign Affairs Committee over her anti-Semitic comments. 

This came in a Thursday vote on the resolution to remove her from the committee seat over her controversial remarks about Israel. Republicans had been vying to make a move against Omar since 2021. The House voted on the resolution to remove Omar with 218 to 211. 

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Her tweets and comments in 2019 were critical of pro-Israel politicians and she also drew comparisons between US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. Omar at the time apologised for her remarks where she said that Jewish money was behind Washington's support of Israel. Her comments sparked a widespread condemnation and allegations that she is anti-semitic. 

Ahead of the vote to oust her from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Omar said, "I will continue to speak for the families who are seeking justice around the world— whether they are displaced in refugee camps or hiding under their bed somewhere like I was. I didn’t come to Congress to be silent. I came to Congress to be their voice."

The newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, "I'm not saying she can't have committees." "But to sit on Foreign Affairs, I worry about … what the rest of the world looks at, every single word that is said there. I'm worried about predetermining what she believes in that situation. She admitted herself, she didn't even know referring to financial money, dollars, was a trope for those who happen to be Jewish," McCarthy added. 

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Omar, who represents parts of Minnesota, arrived in the United States in the 1990s as a Somali refugee. In 2018, she became one of the first Muslim women elected to the US Congress.

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Last year, US Congressman Ilhan Omar also faced strong rebuke for her visit to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, a region for which New Delhi has held a long-standing position that it is an integral part of India. 

In a hard-hitting statement on Omar's visit to the region, Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said, “We have noted that US Representative Ilhan Omar has visited a part of the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that is currently illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that may be her business. But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty in its pursuit makes it ours. This visit is condemnable.”

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