Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee condemned their colleague, Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, on Monday for recent comments she made about Israel.
The backlash Omar is facing stems from two recent situations involving Omar and comments she made regarding Israel and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Last week, she said at a town hall, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
The comment received backlash because it referenced the anti-Semitic theory that Jewish people have “dual loyalties.”
Then, over the weekend, New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey criticized the Minnesota congresswoman on Twitter, to which Omar responded with a thread of tweets about what she described as the “pledge” to “support to a foreign country.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) stands with Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) … (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
“I am deeply concerned by Rep. Omar’s continued anti-Semitic remarks and use of age-old tropes against the Jewish people,” Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Guy Reschenthaler told The Daily Caller. “Her continued use of these tropes is not only offensive, it is dangerous. Democrat leadership needs to take action and remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee immediately.”
Like Reschenthaler, New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has fought with Omar on Twitter on multiple occasions, has called for Omar’s removal from the committee. He made these calls prior to Omar’s most recent remarks. (RELATED: Omar Facing More Accusations Of Anti-Semitism)
The top Republican on the committee, Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, told the Caller, “Rep. Omar’s repeated comments invoking anti-Semitic tropes are deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable. I wholeheartedly agree with Chairman Engel’s recent comments that these sort of attacks have no place on the Foreign Affairs Committee or the House of Representatives.”
Mississippi Republican Rep. Michael Guest and Texas Republican Rep. Ron Wright both criticized Omar’s use of the “dual loyalty” trope in particular.
“To my colleague Congresswoman Omar, no one is asking you to swear allegiance to Israel but it would be nice if you would support the same principles they exude for their people! Freedom, liberty and human rights,” Wright told The Caller. “My allegiance is solely to the United States but I stand with Israel as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East.”
Chairman Eliot Engel issued a statement against Omar over the weekend, prior to the back and forth with Lowey, calling the comment a “vile anti-Semitic slur,” and “deeply offensive.”
The House will vote on a resolution in response to Omar’s comments, later this week.