Ilhan Omar Called 'Unfit to Serve' After Israel Comments

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of "the Squad" in the House of Representatives and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, on Monday took to social media to decry Israel's response to the attack by Hamas. Omar, who supports the Palestinian cause and has a long history of criticizing Israel, posted a lengthy thread on X arguing that just as the world is condemning the Hamas attack, "we must also oppose an Israeli military response that has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including nearly two dozen children." And, she said, as the world honors the humanity of the Israelis and others killed in the Hamas attacks, "we must honor the humanity of the innocent Palestinian civilians who have been killed and whose lives are upended."

Omar accused Israel of running an "apartheid" state in Gaza, where the population (almost half of which is made up of children) lives "under blockade in what Israel's own former intelligence chief has called an open air prison. The overwhelming majority live in poverty. Many suffer lifelong psychological and physical trauma." She noted that the United States' war on terror should have taught the lesson "that military action alone rarely addresses the root causes. That peace and justice will not come from the barrel of a gun. And that targeting an entire civilian population will only sow more discord and perpetuate the cycle of violence." The solution, she says, is "a negotiated peace—with Israelis and Palestinians enjoying equal rights and security guarantees."

Omar has been accused of antisemitism more than once over previous criticism of Israel, and this time is no different. A Republican representative responded to her thread by calling her "unfit to serve." Fellow Squad member and Muslim woman Rep. Rashida Tlaib also called on Israel to "dismant[le] the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance," and their fellow Democrat, a New York county legislator named Josh Lafazan who is running for George Santos' seat in the House, accused both Tlaib and Omar of antisemitism, Forbes reports. A third Squad member, Rep. Cori Bush, joined Tlaib in calling for the US to end funding to Israel and calling it an "apartheid" state, and colleagues on both sides of the aisle were denouncing their statements, the Hill reports. (More Ilhan Omar stories.)