WASHINGTON (AP) — A bitterly divided House ousted Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday over previous comments about Israel that were widely condemned as antisemitic, as Republicans moved to appease right-wing members while punishing a Democrat their party has demonised for years.
The party-line vote of 218 to 211, with one member voting “present,” settled a partisan score that had been simmering since 2021, when the House, then controlled by Democrats, stripped Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of committee assignments for social media posts in which they endorsed violence against Democrats.
The removal of Ms. Omar fulfilled Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California’s threat at the time to retaliate if his party won the House majority by removing Democrats deemed unfit to serve on committees. He unilaterally removed California Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where membership is appointed and thus not subject to a vote, last week.
Mr. McCarthy’s decision to force Ms. Omar’s removal, which some of his rank-and-file resisted, demonstrated his determination to ingratiate himself with the hard-right Republican base, which has made the Somali-born Ms. Omar a target for some of its most vicious attacks. Former President Donald J. Trump famously stated in 2019 that Ms. Omar and three other progressive women of colour should “return” to their home countries, despite the fact that she was the only one not born in the United States.
Mr. McCarthy’s vote on Thursday was also an attempt to gain favour with pro-Israel groups and evangelical voters, as well as to sever ties among Democrats, many of whom had condemned Ms. Omar’s remarks about Israel.
Ms. Omar was chastised by Democrats and Republicans alike in 2019 for tweeting that certain pro-Israel organisations were “all about the Benjamins, baby,” appearing to refer to hundred-dollar bills and invoking an antisemitic trope about Jews and money. She later apologised for her remark. Two years later, Ms. Omar appeared to compare “atrocities” committed by the US military to those committed by terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Hamas; she later clarified that she did not intend to compare them.
Nonetheless, during an unusually tense debate on the House floor on Thursday, prominent Democrats, including many Jewish members, defended Ms. Omar in passionate and at times emotional speeches. They accused Republicans of hypocrisy, xenophobia, and racism for targeting her while remaining silent on antisemitic remarks made by members of their own party, some of whom have ties to Holocaust deniers.