Antisemitic Omar will be booted from Foreign Relations, House Speaker tells Jewish Republicans

The presumptive new Speaker of the House made the promise to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Kevin McCarthy, the presumptive new Speaker of the House of Representatives, told a prominent Jewish political group Saturday that come January, when the new Congress is sworn in, he will remove a notoriously antisemitic Democrat from the House Foreign Relations Committee.

Right before mentioning the name of Ilhan Omar (D-MN), the current Minority Leader said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference, “We watch antisemitism grow. Not just on our campuses, but we watched it grow in the halls of Congress.”

“I remember what she said about me,” he continued. “I remember what she said about Israel. I remember what she said about the [US-Israel] relationship. I remembered it so much, I promised you last year that as Speaker she would no longer be on foreign affairs. I’m keeping that promise.”

Loud whistles, cheers and clapping erupted after his statement.

Omar, a prominent member of the so-called Squad of progressive Democrats, had vilified McCarthy personally last year as a “liar and a coward” when he wouldn’t discipline Lauren Boebert (R-Co) for labeling Omar a member of a “jihad squad” and making a joke about the Somali-American Muslim being a possible suicide bomber.

Boebert later apologized for her off-the-cuff remarks.

Omar is infamous in Jewish circles for making comments implying that the pro-Israel AIPAC lobbying group buys Congressional votes, listing Israel along with the United States, Hamas, and the Taliban as those who “commit unthinkable atrocities,” and submitting a resolution in favor of boycotting Israel, comparing it to a boycott on Nazis.

After the IDF retaliated in May 2019 to a barrage of some 700 rockets Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched indiscriminately over one weekend at the country, she put the onus on Israel instead of on the terrorists, in contrast to the Trump administration that backed Jerusalem.

When Omar made “atrocities” comment in June last year, McCarthy had unsuccessfully called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In an interview on a Fox News show, the California Representative also said that if the GOP takes the House in 2022, “Omar would not be serving on Foreign Affairs, or anybody that has an anti-Semitic, anti-American view.”

The Foreign Affairs Committee is one of the most prestigious committees in the House whose work directly affects Israel. It is responsible for oversight and legislation relating to foreign aid, war powers, treaties, the enforcement of international sanctions, and arms control, including the export policy for munitions items and technology, among other areas of control.

McCarthy, who won his party’s nomination to run for Speaker, still has to be chosen by the whole House, where the Republicans now hold only the barest of majorities after the elections earlier this month.

AntisemitismIlhan OmarKevin McCarthyUS House of Representatives