United States Republicans on Thursday removed progressive Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her past criticism of Israel.
In a 218-211 vote along party lines, the House passed a resolution to strip Omar of her committee assignment.
A former refugee from Somalia and one of two Muslim women in Congress, Omar has been a target of Racism and Islamophobia since she took office.
Republican lawmakers said Omar engaged in “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Israel” rhetoric that disqualified her from serving on the foreign policy panel.
Speaking for herself in floor remarks ahead of the vote, Omar said that “this debate today is about who gets to be an American.”
“There is this idea that you are suspect if you are an immigrant, or if you are from certain parts of the world, of a certain skin tone, or a Muslim.”
“Is anyone surprised I’m being targeted?” Omar asked. “Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy? Frankly, it is expected, because when you push power, power pushes back.”
The congresswoman ended her speech on a defiant note, declaring, “I didn’t come to Congress to be silent… My leadership and voice will not diminish if I am not on this committee for one term.”
Every House Democrat who voted opposed the GOP measure.
In the debate that preceded passage of the resolution, Democratic lawmakers rallied to Omar’s defence, spotlighting the GOP’s association with and embrace of neo-Nazis and condemning the resolution as a racist stunt veiled as a rebuke of antisemitism.
“Republicans are waging a blatantly Islamophobic and racist attack on Congresswoman Omar,” said Rep. Cori Bush.
“This is despicable.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a top ally of Omar, dismissed the GOP’s rationale for the resolution and characterized the vote as another act of “racism and incitement of violence against women of colour in this body.”
“Don’t tell me that this is about a condemnation of antisemitic remarks when you have a member of the Republican caucus who has talked about Jewish space lasers,” Ocasio-Cortez said, a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Passage of the Republican resolution also drew outrage from advocacy groups.
In a statement, Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of the Muslim-American advocacy group Emgage Action, called the House’s party-line vote “unacceptable” and said Republican attacks on Omar “are based in Islamophobia and bigotry.”
