Omar proposes complete overhaul of US foreign policy

Omar’s proposals would require the U.S. to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, which the Palestinians have used to try to put Israeli leaders on trial for supposed war crimes.

By World Israel News Staff 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who has challenged the U.S. relationship with Israel in the past, has now put forward a proposal on American foreign policy that, she says, would change the way Washington does business with the world.

“The suite of proposals would initiate tighter scrutiny of U.S. support to countries that commit abuses and transfer $5 billion in wartime funding to a new Global Peacebuilding Fund,” reports Huffington Post on the Omar proposal, saying that Omar had shared an advance copy of her proposal, which she calls a “Pathway to Peace,” exclusively with the news outlet.

“I believe that when the United States says it champions human rights, democracy, and peace, we should mean it!” Omar tweeted last week.

“This is not a peace plan. It is theft. It is erasure,” Omar tweeted after the announcement on January 28 of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Israelis and Palestinians.

Her use of the words “theft” and “erasure” were an apparent reference to the president’s recognition of the Jewish connection to Judea and Samaria justifying the existence of Jewish communities there, as opposed to Omar’s strong pro-Palestinian position in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state in those areas.

Her new plan would “give Congress new responsibility for approving and assessing economic sanctions that come via emergency declarations from the White House,” says the Huffington Post.

In 2019, she introduced a bill in Congress to support the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divest & Sanctions) movement, arguing that it was “about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our first amendment rights in regard to boycotting,” and “an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”

However, the House of Representatives voted to condemn the BDS movement despite protests from Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

Omar’s proposals “would also require the U.S. to join United Nations agreements on children’s rights and migration, as well as the International Criminal Court, which could mean unprecedented consequences for Americans linked to war crimes,” says the Huffington Post.

The Palestinians have used the International Criminal Court (ICC) to try to put Israeli leaders on trial for supposed war crimes, though the Israeli Foreign Ministry recently reported that a growing number of countries are reaching the conclusion that the ICC is not authorized to deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

“The foreign policy project is a culmination of Omar’s rhetoric and work since she entered Congress and took a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” the Huffington Post notes.

Vice President Mike Pence has called for removing Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee because of what he said were anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments she has made while in Congress.

BDSIlhan OmarInternational Criminal Court