On Thursday, members of Congress pushed U.S. House of Representatives member Ilhan Omar to be removed from a prestigious committee over remarks widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
The House of Representatives “divides” when voting “according to party principle”: 218 – “For” and 211 – “Against”.
The reason for the decision was Ilhan Omar’s remarks in 2019, for which she later apologized.
Omar, who came to the United States as a refugee from Somalia, is the only African-born American congresswoman and one of the few Muslim women in the House of Representatives. She was to be the top Democrat on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Africa subcommittee.
Republicans, who won a slim majority in the House of Representatives in November’s election after years of being a minority, said they want Omar, elected to the House of Representatives for the third time, to be removed from the House of Representatives. Foreign Affairs Committee for statements that included those posted to his Twitter account in 2019, the words: “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” This meant that supporters of Israel in American politics were driven by money, not principle.
Benjamin Franklin, whose signature on the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 1787 US Constitution earned him a reputation as one of the founding fathers of the United States, is featured on the $100 bill.
During the debate on Ilhan Omar’s disqualification case, Republican Mike Lawler said, “Words matter and rhetoric matters. They can offend. A member of Congress is responsible for his words and actions.”
Omar and other Democrats said such remarks were made years ago and that Omar deleted the tweets and issued an apology at the time.
However, shortly before the United States House of Representatives voted to remove her from the committee, Omar said, “My leadership and my voice will not be weakened if I am not on this committee…my voice will become louder and louder.”
Ilhan Omar has said in the past that US forces, like those of other countries, should be held equally accountable when their actions cause injury or death to civilians.
The firing, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was seen by Democrats as retaliation for their 2021 vote to remove Republicans Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar from serving on House committees after their inappropriate speeches.
Gosar then posted a video on social media, which “showed up” that he appeared to be killing another member of the US House of Representatives, US Democratic Party Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakim Jeffreys told reporters ahead of Omar’s vote that Democrats had long condemned his “benjamin” remark.
Previously, Kevin McCarthy rejected the nominations of Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to the US House Select Committee on Intelligence. Both played a crucial role in the impeachment of Donald Trump.
