U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday reiterated his call for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments while in Congress.
“Ilhan Omar has made statements ... anti-Semitic comments … statements against our most cherished ally: Israel … that ought to be rejected by every American,” said Pence during an interview with Fox News.
Even before running for Congress, Omar has made anti-Israel statements such as tweeting in 2012 that Israel has “hypnotized the world,” a post that has since been deleted.
Then in February, one month into the job, Omar accused the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobbying organization, of paying members of Congress to back Israel.
The following month, she accused her “Jewish colleagues” for attacking her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for labeling every criticism of theirs as anti-Israel because of the Muslim faith of the two congresswomen, in addition to slamming her critics regarding “the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
This led to a passed resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred that did not call out Omar by name.
However, potential removal from the committee looks unlikely.
“No, I’m not close to it,” said its chairman, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” in March when asked if he would remove Omar.
