Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has been slammed for saying she “almost chuckles” when Israel is recognized as a democracy and comparing the nation to Iran, The Algemeiner reported Thursday. Omar made the comments in an interview with Yahoo! News earlier this week.
“When I see Israel institute a law that recognizes it as a Jewish state and does not recognize the other religions that are living in it, and we still uphold it as a democracy in the Middle East, I almost chuckle,” said Omar, who is one of the first female Muslim members of Congress.
She continued: “I know that if we see that in any other society we would criticize it, call it out. We do that to Iran, we do that to any other place that sort of upholds its religion. And I see that now happening with Saudi Arabia and so I am aggravated, truly, in those contradictions.”
Omar was recently selected by Democratic lawmakers for the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, despite being a freshman lawmaker. Asked about the position the United States should take regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the congresswoman replied she finds it “aggravating” that the U.S. is biased toward Israel.
“Most of the things that have always been aggravating to me is that we have had a policy that makes one superior to the other, and we mask it with a conversation that’s about justice and a two-state solution, when you have policies that clearly prioritize one over the other,” she asserted.
Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a fellow Democrat, blasted Omar in a tweet on Thursday, accusing her of anti-Semitism.
“Who objects to Saudi Arabia being Islamic? Or any of the other 48 Muslim states? The issue with Iran isn’t their state religion; it’s their terror-loving leaders that are condemned. @IlhanMN needs to learn about the world before she’s out of excuses for her anti-Semitism.”
This is not the first time Omar found herself at the center of a controversy revolving around her criticism of the Jewish State. The congresswoman tweeted in November 2012 that Israel had “hypnotized the world” to ignore its “evil doings,” using traditional anti-Semitic language about a nefarious Jewish cabal that controls and deceives the world.
Defending the tweet in May 2018, Omar charged that “drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime” was not anti-Semitic, nor equivalent to hating Jews. Omar apologized under pressure earlier this month, saying her comment was “unfortunate and offensive” and admitting it relied on an “anti-Semitic trope.”
Since Omar was elected to Minnesota’s House of Representatives in 2016, she has also used her position to advance anti-Israel policies, including voting against an anti-BDS bill to stop financially punishing Israel.
[Photo: Yahoo / YouTube ]