Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) added her voice to a group of Democratic lawmakers Tuesday calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to appoint a special U.S. international envoy tasked with ending “Islamophobia” wherever it is found.
Omar and two dozen other political allies pointed to what they called the “persecution of Muslims manifesting itself around the world” as reason for the appointment.
The lawmakers wrote in the letter cited by The Hill:
As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia as a pattern that is repeating in nearly every corner of the globe.
It is past time for the United States to stand firmly in favor of religious freedom for all, and to give the global problem of Islamophobia the attention and prioritization it deserves.
They also called for the secretary “to specifically include anti-Muslim violence per se in next year’s annual human rights reports.”
The Minnesota Democrat is co-leading the letter with Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
The two are joined by 23 other compatriots including Reps. Karen Bass of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Adam Smith of Washington and Sara Jacobs of California, according to the Hill.
The lawmakers cite an annual report released by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as evidence for their push, even after Omar herself has been acccused of attacking those of different faiths, as Breitbart News reported.
It identified multiple countries with “patterns of mistreatment and human rights violations against either their entire Muslim populations or particular sects of Muslims.”
“In addition to state-sponsored policies of Islamophobia, we have seen a disturbing rise in incidents of Islamophobic violence committed by individuals connected to larger transnational white supremacist networks, including but by no means limited to the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019 and the recent murder of a Muslim Canadian family in London, Ontario,” the lawmakers wrote.
Omar personally pointed to an uptick in “Anti-Muslim hate” as part of her reasoning calling for the creation of the new position, reaffirming her own stated belief she was born to fight injustice wherever it is found.
“This year has seen over 500 incidents of hate in the U.S. — and those are just the ones that have been reported,” Omar said in reference to a terror attack in Canada last month that killed four members of a Muslim family.
“In countries around the world — from China to India to Myanmar — Muslim communities are being discriminated against,” the congresswoman lamented. “We must all stand united against this horrific rise in hate.”
Omar’s call for global peace and understanding comes one month after a poll found a majority of voters do not agree with her past statements equating the Unites States and Israel with terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Taliban.
According to the poll, 61 percent of voters reject Omar’s “anti-American rhetoric,” and half support censuring her, Breitbart News reported.
Only 24 percent of voters agree with Omar’s comparison and 15 percent are not sure. Eighty percent of Republicans, 41 percent of Democrats, and 57 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party disagree with the comparison as well.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.