Republicans move to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar over harsh criticism of Israel and supporters

Congressional Republicans pushed forward Wednesday to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs committee over her strident criticism of Israel and what they say are past antisemitic remarks.

GOP leaders planned a final vote of the full House Thursday to punish Omar for a string of remarks calling Israel an “apartheid state” over its occupation of Palestinian lands and suggesting that pro-Israel lobbying groups use money to buy support in Congress.

The trailblazing Somali immigrant has apologized for comments that she admits could be viewed as antisemitic, like one tweet that said “it’s all about the Benjamins” when criticizing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Israel groups.

But she stands by her criticism of Israel and says her perspective is needed in Congress, where broad majorities of both parties strongly support Israel despite alleged human rights violations and the 55-year occupation of the West Bank.

“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,” she said.

Omar is the second Muslim woman to serve in Congress and the first one born in Africa. She is a proud member of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s so-called “Squad” of progressive women of color.

Democrats say the move to target Omar is simply political payback for Democrats’ stripping far right-wing extremists of their committee assignments over violent threats aimed at progressive colleagues.

“This is about vengeance. This is about spite. This is about politics,” said Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces a tricky fight to line up a majority to support booting Omar.

With Democrats sure to oppose the move in lockstep, he can only afford to lose a handful of GOP votes in the nearly evenly divided House.