Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) announced on May 7 that he will introduce a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over recent remarks calling some Jewish students “pro-genocide.”
The resolution, obtained by The Epoch Times, is not privileged and will not force a House vote.
Whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will put the resolution to a vote is to be determined.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Mr. Johnson’s office.
The measure aims at inflammatory comments made by Ms. Omar, a progressive who has represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since January 2019, who has drawn scrutiny over the years for remarks described as anti-Semitic.
On April 26, during a visit to a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University, which her daughter attends, Ms. Omar said: “We should not have to tolerate anti-Semitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
Mr. Bacon’s resolution alleges that Ms. Omar’s “slanderous comments against Jewish students could inflame violence against the Jewish community.”
The resolution, it states, is meant to censure Ms. Omar “for her comments targeting Jewish students in the United States.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Ms. Omar’s office for comment on the resolution.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution in February to censure Ms. Omar for allegedly pledging her allegiance to Somalia in a recent speech, although the initial translation of the speech has been disputed.
In 2019, Ms. Omar posted in a now-deleted tweet that U.S. lawmaker support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins, baby,” evoking an anti-Semitic trope that Israel pays lawmakers to support the Jewish state. She later apologized.
In June 2021, Ms. Omar appeared to equate the United States and Israel to the Taliban and Hamas, the latter of which is a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
“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 United States, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” Ms. Omar posted on X.
She subsequently sought to clarify her tweet, saying the remarks were about “accountability for specific incidents regarding those [International Criminal Court] investigations cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”
In response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, resulting in the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Ms. Omar called for an end to U.S. military assistance to Israel, which totals $3.8 billion annually. Of that, $3.3 billion is military aid.
