Washington
\nKevin McCarthy is spearheading an effort to prevent Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from serving on the chamber\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee due to her prior criticism of Israel, reported Al Jazeera. This is one of his first actions as speaker of the US House of Representatives.
\nThe proposal to dismiss Omar from the panel was advanced on Wednesday by the House\u2019s Republican majority. Democrats rejected the move and charged McCarthy with racism for focusing on the legislator, one of just two Muslim women serving in the US Congress and a former refugee of Somali heritage.
\nThe resolution against Omar was initially challenged by a few Republicans, who questioned McCarthy\u2019s ability to carry it given the GOP\u2019s slim majority. But on Wednesday, all 218 present House Republicans voted to advance the proposal, while 209 Democrats continued to support Omar. On Thursday, a final vote is anticipated as progressives support Omar.
\nOmar was backed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), who described her as an \u201cesteemed and indispensable\u201d lawmaker.
\n\u201cYou cannot remove a Member of Congress from a committee simply because you do not agree with their views. This is both ludicrous and dangerous,\u201d CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal said in a statement on Monday.
\nMax Miller, an Ohio Republican who sponsored the motion against Omar on Tuesday, cited a number of incidents in which the congresswoman has criticised Israel and US foreign policy.
\n\u201cCongresswoman Omar clearly cannot be an objective decision-maker on the Foreign Affairs Committee given her biases against Israel and against the Jewish people,\u201d Miller said in a statement.
\nIn response, Omar asserted that the resolution was not \u201cobjectively true,\u201d and that if this were the case, no one would be serving on committees.
\nDespite the fact that the Republican resolution accuses Omar of being anti-Semitic, it only refers to comments made about Israel and not to the Jewish people.
\nFor instance, the legislation criticises the congresswoman for calling Israel an \u201capartheid state,\u201d despite the fact that prominent human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have likewise charged Israel with imposing an apartheid system on Palestinians.
\nWhen Omar made the claim that political contributions from pro-Israel lobby groups, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), fuel support for Israel in Washington early in her congressional career in 2019, she came under heavy scrutiny.
\nOmar eventually apologised for the comment, but supporters of Palestinian rights claim that accusations of anti-Semitism against those who criticise Israel are intended to silence discussion of those policies.
\nProgressives who favour Palestinian human rights, like Michigan\u2019s Andy Levin, a left-leaning Jewish former House member, were defeated by AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups in the past two years by spending millions of dollars on congressional races.
\nIn the run-up to the 2020 elections, Trump\u2019s anti-refugee rhetoric frequently singled out Omar. At one rally in 2019, Omar\u2019s fans screamed \u201csend her back,\u201d but Trump did nothing to stop them.
\nOmar has resisted McCarthy\u2019s efforts to have her removed from the committee, calling them \u201cpathetic,\u201d despite initial resistance from his own caucus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Kevin McCarthy is spearheading an effort to prevent Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from serving on the chamber\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee due to her prior criticism of Israel, reported Al Jazeera. This is one of his first actions as speaker of the US House of Representatives. The proposal to dismiss Omar from the panel was advanced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-311423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n