Rabbis: Ilhan Omar’s Promotion Shows ‘Anti-Semitism Now Accepted in Congress’

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America, declared Monday that the promotion of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to a senior committee position shows that Congress accepts antisemitism.

As Breitbart News reported Sunday, Omar was promoted to the position of Vice Chair on the Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights subcommittee within the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

She was elevated despite her long track record of antisemitic statements, and her virulent hostility toward Israel — an issue that would affect her current committee assignment, as many international human rights bodies are deeply biased against Israel.

The CJV said in a statement:

Omar, despite a history of support for organizations with ties to Islamic terror and condemnations of Israel sufficient to be voted “2019’s Anti-Semite of the Year” by StopAntiSemitism.org, was named Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.

“This appointment is both risible and dangerous. Ilhan Omar’s long-standing hatred for Israel and contempt for Jews and for America make this a mockery of human rights advocacy,” said Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Israel Regional Vice President of the CJV. “I have little doubt that she will abuse the framework of ‘human rights’ to further her campaign to demonize the Jewish State, as the UN Human Rights Council does on an annual basis. Rep. Omar should have been stripped of her committee assignments, rather than rewarded with a promotion.”

…

“The real concern is that House Democrats are treating Anti-Semitism as a political weapon, abetted by the silence and even backing of Democratic Jewish members,” stated Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the CJV. “The action against Rep. Greene, coupled with the elevation of Rep. Omar, signals that Congress is now willing to tolerate Anti-Semitism when it is politically advantageous to do so.”

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the country’s oldest pro-Israel organization, also denounced Omar’s promotion:

The ZOA strongly opposes, condemns, and urges the retraction of the outrageous appointment of vicious antisemite, Israel-basher and anti-Israel-BDS-promoter Ilhan Omar to be Vice Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights.

…

Omar should certainly not be elevated to her new leadership position – which will give her an even bigger platform for spewing her hateful antisemitism, Israel-bashing and promotion of boycotts against the Middle East’s only human-rights-loving democracy, Israel.

…

Elevating Omar to a position overseeing “global human rights” is a dangerous travesty that will help mainstreaming and legitimizing Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred.

Last month, House Democrats voted to strip freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) of all of her committee assignments for statements she made in support of the QAnon conspiracy theory before arriving in Congress.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

This post has been updated to include ZOA’s response.