Dan Crenshaw calls for Ilhan Omar to be stripped of committee assignments
Thomas McDonald
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Rep. Dan Crenshaw said Rep. Ilhan Omar should be fired from her congressional committee assignments.
“I think she absolutely should be fired,” Crenshaw said during an interview on Fox News.
“This is a pattern with her, too. This isn’t just a one-off,” he added. “She has a pattern of anti-Semitic comments. She’s constantly trying to make you believe that America is a bad place, not worthy of our praise at all.”
The comments regarding the U.S., Israel, Hamas, and the Taliban were made on Twitter, during a video conference with President Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” Omar tweeted.
Crenshaw is among a number of Republicans who are seeking action against Omar after her remarks equating the actions of the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. Omar maintains that her comments have been taken out of context.
Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called her statements “antisemitic and anti-American.” A dozen Jewish lawmakers, including Democrat Jerry Nadler, released a statement calling Omar’s comments “offensive and misguided.”
“Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided,” wrote the group, in a statement.
“Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.”
“False equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups,” they added.
Other Democrats, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran to Omar’s defense.
“Pretty sick & tired of the constant vilification, intentional mischaracterization, and public targeting of @IlhanMN coming from our caucus,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted. “They have no concept for the danger they put her in by skipping private conversations & leaping to fueling targeted news cycles around her.”
Omar clarified her comments in a statement, saying, “On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about an ongoing International Criminal Court investigations. … To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”
“In no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems,” she added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with other members of Democratic leadership, issued a statement that accepted Omar’s clarification on her comments.
“Legitimate criticism of the policies of both the United States and Israel is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate… But drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the U.S. and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all,” Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said. “We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.”