Rabbis blast Congress for disparity in treatment of Reps. Greene, Omar

“The action against Rep. Greene, coupled with the elevation of Rep. Omar, signals that Congress is now willing to tolerate anti-Semitism when it is politically advantageous to do so,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), an organization representing over 1,500 Orthodox rabbis, called Monday for the removal of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from her leadership position over a House subcommittee on human rights, pointing out the glaring disparity between Congress’ treatment of its members.

The CJV statement drew attention to the House’s removal of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from her committee assignments, allegedly for spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories before running for office, while allowing Omar not only to retain her assignments, but to be promoted to Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights, despite anti-Semitic statements she has made as a member of Congress.

“The action against Rep. Greene, coupled with the elevation of Rep. Omar, signals that Congress is now willing to tolerate anti-Semitism when it is politically advantageous to do so,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the CJV.

“The real concern is that House Democrats are treating anti-Semitism as a political weapon, abetted by the silence and even backing of Democratic Jewish members,” he said.

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Israel Regional Vice President of the CJV, called Omar’s appointment “both risible and dangerous.”

“Ilhan Omar’s long-standing hatred for Israel and contempt for Jews and for America make this a mockery of human rights advocacy,” he said.

“I have little doubt that she will abuse the framework of ‘human rights’ to further her campaign to demonize the Jewish State, as the UN Human Rights Council does on an annual basis,” said Pruzansky.

Earlier this month, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) called for Omar to be removed from her committee assignments, a move that the CJV supported.

“Rep. Omar should have been stripped of her committee assignments rather than rewarded with a promotion,” Pruzansky said.

Prior to the removal of Greene from her committee assignments last month, the CJV issued a statement calling for the bipartisan censure of Greene’s remarks.

“We can hardly consider ourselves to be a tolerant country if people who espouse bigotry are permitted to represent our nation,” said Rabbi Moshe Parnes, Southern Regional Vice President of the CJV.

The statement did not specify which of Greene’s statements were offensive, but much of the media coverage at the time centered around a November 2018 social media post in which she mentioned “lasers or blue beams of light” and “Rothschild Inc” in the same paragraph.

Greene has also been highly critical of Jewish billionaire George Soros, the founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations.

Despite the accusations of anti-Semitism, an investigation of Greene’s Twitter account revealed many pro-Israel statements.

“@IlhanMN is openly anti-Semitic and hostile to America’s great friend and ally Israel. Her support for organizations with ties to Islamic terror, promotion of anti-Israel BDS, and deep contempt for Jews and Israel should disqualify her from Congress,” Greene tweeted Tuesday.

“Jerusalem is the rightful capital of Israel! May God always bless @realDonaldTrump for being the first @POTUS to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Greene tweeted in December 2020.

“God bless America and God bless our friend and ally Israel!” she said.

In contrast, Omar is well known for her anti-Israel rhetoric.

In a November 2020 tweet, Omar accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in “direct violation of international law.”

Omar has also called Israel an “apartheid” regime and claimed that “Israel has hypnotized the world.”