US House speaker Kevin McCarthy vows to remove Ilhan Omar from committee over Israel criticism

Potential next US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he will remove Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a decision in part because of her criticism of Israel.

McCarthy had pledged, during an interview with the “Sunday Morning” program, to expel Muslim Representative Ilhan Omar from the US House of Representatives committees, in addition to Representative Adam Schiff and Representative Eric Swalwell, if he regained control of the House of Representatives.

McCarthy said: “We will not allow Omar to be present on the Foreign Affairs Committee because of her anti-Semitic comments,” referring to Omar’s criticism of Israel.

McCarthy further addded, “I remember what she said about Israel. I remember what she said about the relationship. I remember it so much that I promised you last year that as speaker, she would no longer be on Foreign Affairs. I’m keeping that promise.’

Ilhan Omar responded to Kevin McCarthy’s threats to expel her from congressional committees by saying that the Republican Party had targeted her, since the first day of her election, using fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism and through a multi-million dollar advertising campaign.

“The constant outpouring of hate and threats, including Marjorie Green’s guns and Trump’s vow to take me back to Somalia, has led to hundreds of death threats and plots against me and my family,” Omar said in a statement.

Controversy about Ilhan Omar’s ‘anti-Semitism’

Earlier, Ilhan Omar called for more congressional oversight of the relationship between the United States and Israel, as she launched an attack against the pro-Israel lobby, and seemed at times to invoke themes of Jewish control, which attracted accusations of anti-Semitism, from Republicans and some Democrats. 

According to the Times of Israel, the deputy, of Somali origin, apologized for some of them but did not apologize for all the comments that caused this attack against her. Ilhan also supports the Boycott Israel movement.

One of Omar’s tweets was the one in which she said McCarthy supports Israel for the money. Ilhan later apologized for that. 

Republicans are scheduled to take control of the House of Representatives in January, and nominated McCarthy for the presidency, although 31 Republicans voted against him, and McCarthy would need 218 votes to win the position.

Who is Ilhan Omar?

• Omar moved to Minnesota with her family when she was in her teens. She lost her mother when she was young, so she was raised by her grandfather and father, the youngest of her seven siblings.

• All members of her family in Somalia were educated, her father was the director of the National Maritime Transport. After the civil war in Somalia in 1991, her entire family fled the country and lived for many years in refugee camps in Kenya.

• In 1995, Ilhan immigrated with her family to Minnesota. She was superior and learned English within three months, and during her studies, she worked as a translator when she was only 14 years old.

• She graduated from the College of Political Science and International Studies at the University of North Dakota, USA, in 2011.

• She began her career as a nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota from 2006-2009.

• After completing her studies, she served as campaign manager for Kari Dziedzic’s 2012 Minnesota Senate re-election campaign.

• Then, she worked as a child nutrition awareness coordinator at the Ministry of Education between 2012-2013.

• In 2013, she ran Andrew Johnson’s campaign for Minneapolis City Council. After the latter’s victory, she worked as a political aide to him.

• Omar was attacked by five people in late 2015 the day before she was to attend one of her party’s conferences.

• In 2015, she became the Director of Policy and Initiatives for the Women’s Organizing Network in which Omar called out migrant women from East Africa to take on civic and political leadership roles in the country.
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• Omar achieved a historic achievement and her name made headlines in the local media after she defeated a Republican candidate to win a seat in the Minnesota State House of Representatives in 2016.