GOP votes out Ilhan Omar from House Foreign Affairs Committee

The Republican-majority House of Representatives removed Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a vote of 218-211 on Thursday.

The GOP repeatedly called out Omar for her past anti-Semitic rhetoric and statements about Israel.

Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio addressed on the House floor how she was barred from traveling to Israel in 2019.

"How can someone not welcomed by one of our most important allies serve as an emissary of American foreign policy on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and given her biased comments against Israel and against the Jewish people, how can she serve as an objective decision maker on the committee?" Miller said.

She has since apologized for her remarks after being urged by her colleagues on both sides in the then Democratic-majority House led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.

@IlhanMN / Twitter

Omar gave a touching speech while displaying a photo of her 9-year-old self as she shared her background, and reassured her colleagues that she is there to stay.

"I didn't come to Congress to be silent. I came to Congress to be their voice, and my leadership and voice will not be diminished," Omar said, referring to refugees from around the world.

Her family fled from the Somalia Civil War when she was only 8 years old.

She is the first African refugee to become a member of Congress, the first woman of color to serve as a representative in Minnesota and one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York defended Omar, calling out the GOP's hypocrisy in their past anti-Semitic remarks as she referenced Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia's use of the phrase, "Jewish space lasers."

"This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America," Ocasio-Cortez said.

Omar stood strong, tweeting a photo of herself wearing a bracelet that said, "God bless whoever hating on me."

pc: @IlhanMN / Twitter

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