The new Speaker of the House has good reason to boot the antisemitic congresswoman from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
After all the deals he made to get the votes of recalcitrant conservative Republicans, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy has a lot of promises to keep. But one vow the California Republican will have no problem fulfilling is one he made a year ago to boot Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee when the GOP regained control of the House.
Soon after she joined the House, she tweeted that congressional support for Israel was the result of bribes from supporters of the AIPAC lobby, saying, “It’s all about the Benjamins.” She later apologized for her tweets but didn’t back down on her support for BDS or any other part of her anti-Israel agenda.
This prompted calls from both Republicans and Democrats (who were both being slandered by her calumnies) for Omar’s censure. But House progressives rallied around her. In an act of epic gaslighting, they claimed that it was Omar who was being discriminated against because she was a “woman of color,” as well as an immigrant and the first Somali-American member of Congress.
By standing with Omar, Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have effectively normalized antisemitism. McCarthy’s effort to punish her will again test whether they mean what they say when they speak of their opposition to hate.