Pence Slams Ilhan Omar, Calls for Her Removal from House Committee
Vice President Mike Pence called for freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar to be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday in an address before the annual America Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C.
“Recently a freshman Democrat in Congress trafficked in repeated anti-Semitic tropes,” Pence said to the AIPAC crowd.
“Alleged congressional support for Israel reflected allegiance to a foreign country,” he continued. “Said Israel, and I quote, ‘hypnotized the world.’ And she accused Americans who support Israel of being bought off by campaign contributions.”
The vice president paused, letting what he said hang in the air.
Pence then forcefully pronounced, “Anti-semitism has no place in the Congress of the United States of America!” drawing thunderous applause from the audience.
.@VP referring to @Ilhan:”Anti-semitism has no place in the Congress of United States of America…” #AIPAC2019 pic.twitter.com/t2qNTGTnNt
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 25, 2019
“And at a minimum anyone who slanders those who support this historic alliance between the United States and Israel should never have a seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States House of Representatives,” he added.
Pence went on to note the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives struggled to pass a resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
The vice president further highlighted that all but one of the Democrat candidates for president currently serving in the U.S. Senate failed to back legislation opposing the BDS (Boycott – Divestment – Sanctions) movement aimed at financially crippling Israel.
Those voting against the measure, which passed with strong bi-partisan support 77 to 23 last month, included Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar was the only Democratic presidential candidate to vote for the legislation, which authorized the appropriation of funds to Israel and dealt with other Middle East security-related matters.
“As I stand before you, eight Democratic candidates for president are boycotting this very conference,” Pence said. “Anyone who aspires to the highest office in the land should not be afraid to stand with the strongest supporters of Israel in America.
“It is wrong to boycott Israel and it is wrong to boycott AIPAC.”
Omar recently participated in a series of fundraisers, some of which were closed to the public, with groups tied to Islamic terrorism.
Two of the events were with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is a pro-Palestinian organization with ties to terror groups, including Hamas.
“The U.S. Department of Justice listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding millions of dollars to the terrorist organization Hamas. Additionally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) named CAIR a terrorist organization along with al-Qaeda and ISIS in 2014,” the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
In a 2009 letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, multiple Republican House members highlighted that the FBI suspended all contacts with CAIR, due to its connections with Hamas, which had been designated a terrorist organization in 1995.
At least a thousand protestors gathered outside the Woodland Hills Hilton on Saturday (near Los Angeles), where Omar spoke at an event sponsored by CAIR-LA, the Press-Enterprise reported.
Hundreds outside the Woodland Hills Hilton right now protesting Rep. Ilhan Omar’s appearance at a CAIR fundraiser tonight. Crowd’s going wild for a bride walking out of the hotel pic.twitter.com/bJgOsdrrLE
— Ariella Plachta (@AriPlachta) March 23, 2019
At the event, which was open to the media, the congresswoman said to Muslim Americans in attendance, “I say raise hell, make people uncomfortable.”
“Because here’s the truth. Far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,” Omar added.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claims that Muslims in the U.S. are “second-class citizens,” encourages them to “raise hell, make people uncomfortable” pic.twitter.com/BfsaefdZ8E
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 24, 2019
“Muslims are told that we should not bother anyone, not make any kind of noise, be a good Muslim. But no matter how much we have tried to be the best neighbor, people have always worked on finding a way to not allow for every single civil liberty to be extended to us,” she said.
Omar also indirectly addressed the controversy surrounding her anti-Israel comments, promising that she will continue to talk about a country “violating basic human rights.”
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