Squad’s Ilhan Omar to be CENSURED for calling Jewish students ‘pro-genocide’ at Columbia anti-Israel rally where her own daughter was arrested
Republican Rep. Don Bacon has introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for saying some Jewish students are “pro-genocide.”
The moderate Nebraska Republican’s resolution will not force an immediate vote, but strongly condemns the Progressive Squad’s comments.
The censure accuses Omar of a “long and demonstrated history of hateful rhetoric that plays on the worst anti-Semitic tropes.”
When Omar visited campuses last month to show solidarity with pro-Gaza student protesters after her daughter was arrested, Omar spoke out against bigotry against Jewish students in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark.
“I think it’s really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish children should be kept safe, and that we don’t have to tolerate anti-Semitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they be pro-genocide or anti-genocide are. – genocide,” she said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused of ‘blood libel’ by the anti-defamation league for saying some Jewish students are ‘in favor of genocide’
When Omar visited campuses last month to show solidarity with pro-Gaza student protesters after her daughter was arrested, Omar spoke out against bigotry against Jewish students in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek comment.
The resolution also notes comments Omar made in 2021 when she tweeted: “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.”
It notes that the Somali-born progressive has called Israel’s response to the October 7 attack an “act of terrorism.”
The resolution notes a slew of previous anti-Israel social media posts by Omar:
“Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah wake up the people and help them see Israel’s evil deeds,” she wrote in 2012 on X, formerly Twitter.
“Drawing attention to Israel’s apartheid regime is far from hating Jews,” she wrote in 2018.
The Minnesota Democrat was previously fired from the Foreign Affairs Committee for allegedly suggesting that lawmakers and activists who support Israel would be “loyal to a foreign country.”
In 2019, she came under fire for saying AIPAC and Jewish people were trying to buy influence: “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” Democratic leaders of Congress condemned her for this.
She would represent Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. followed, who was censured in November for anti-Israel comments for parroting the Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea.”
A protester holds a Palestinian flag as students gather on the Columbia University campus in a protest camp in support of Palestinians despite a 2 p.m. deadline set by university officials to disband or be suspended.
“It is nonsense to claim that the Jewish people are somehow guilty of harassing and threatening them with signs and slogans that literally call for their own extermination. It is disgusting that a sitting member of Congress would vilify an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner. This is how people get killed.”
Omar then referenced a report from The Intercept about the Department of Education investigating protests at the University of Massachusetts Amherst over anti-Palestinian bias.
In a civil rights complaint, 18 students said they had been victims of “extreme anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and discrimination.”
One accusation alleged that a student shouted “kill all Arabs” at pro-Gaza protesters.
A university official reportedly said of the demonstrators: ‘They are all Hamas. All grotesquely evil.”
“This is the pro-genocide I was talking about. Can you condemn this as I have condemned anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds?’ Omar challenged Greenblatt.
Omar is one of 37 House Democrats who voted against aid to Israel earlier this month as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpassed 34,000 since October 7.
Omar’s comments come as Republicans have repeatedly demanded the resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik over his failure to quell the demonstrations. Speaker Mike Johnson suggested President Joe Biden call in the National Guard.
Last week, Republican Whip Tom Emmer accused Omar of being “pro-terrorist.”
Columbia sophomore David Lederer waves a large Israel flag outside the student protest camp on the campus of Columbia University, Monday, April 29, 2024,
Pro-Palestinian students protest at an encampment on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 28, 2024
Protests against Israel’s war with Hamas began earlier this month at Columbia University before spreading to campuses across the country
Columbia’s 2 p.m. deadline for student protesters to vacate an encampment or face disciplinary action came and went on Monday, but the camps remain.
The Columbia faculty linked arms and formed a protective wall around the Gaza Solidarity Camp.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito suggested that pro-Palestinian protesters were “proud that you were supported by Hamas.”
Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz compared the anti-Semitism within the Columbia protests last week to the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
“We were angry years ago when we saw Charlottesville saying ‘Jews will not replace us’ and Donald Trump saying ‘Good people on both sides’ or ‘Mexicans are rapists,’ right? But somehow we don’t have the same anger of, ‘Go back to Poland,'” Moskowitz said on CNN.
“It’s the same message, which is: ‘Jews are not welcome,’” he continued.