Coalition for Jewish Values Managing Director Rabbi Yaakov Menken told Newsmax Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., should be removed from her House Foreign Affairs Committee assignment for her past antisemitic posts on Twitter, despite her apology at the time and claim that she was not aware of the anti-Jewish tropes she used in them.
"If you're going to go after Jews, this is the kind of trope that you use," Menken said during "American Agenda" Wednesday. "Many of these people do not realize they're just peddling in old hate. They actually think it's true, but that's exactly the problem. I mean this is why, and it's very clear if you would look at the reality in the Middle East, she herself would recognize, that she is motivated by hate.
"But that has not happened that she has not reversed on that. She may claim that she didn't know those particular tropes, but you cannot, in any way, counterbalance the fact that she still has this attitude."
The "Squad" member came under fire for posts to Twitter in 2019 that implied U.S. support for Israel was based on Jewish money and claiming Israel had "hypnotized the world."
She "unequivocally" apologized for the comments about a month later, saying in a post on Twitter, "My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize."
Then GOP House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called for her removal from the committee at the time, but the call fell on the deaf ears of the Democrat majority and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
But after that same Democrat majority and 11 House Republicans removed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her committee assignments for comments she made on social media, as well as removing Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., in 2021, now-Speaker McCarthy is moving forward with a House Vote to remove Omar as early as Thursday.
Menken said that Omar, who is a Muslim from Somalia in Africa, would likely use her attitude toward Jews and Israel while serving on the powerful committee.
"As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, she's still going to be the same malign influence, and you wonder about the credibility of what she said," Menken said. "We went straight after what she said. It is not about her identity characteristics."
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