Simon Wiesenthal Center Calls for Censure and Removal of Rep. Omar from House Foreign Affairs Committee

February 12, 2019

LOS ANGELES; Feb. 12, 2019 -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is launching a nationwide petition urging House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel(D-NY) and Ranking Minority Member Mike McCaul(R-TX) to have the full committee censure Congresswoman Ihan Omar for her anti-Semitism and to urge the Speaker to remove her from her the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“No sooner had Omar tweeted an ‘apology’ that she retweeted a supporters repetition of the anti-Semitic trope,“ declared Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Dean and Founder and Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action for the leading Jewish Human Rights NGO. “Frankly, she is unfit to sit in judgement of crucial foreign policy decisions that the U.S. must grapple with on a daily basis.

“We are therefore launching a petition to our 400,000 constituent families asking them and other concerned Americans to join the SWC’s protest.”

The Petition reads:

“Much has been said about anti-Semitic statements made by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, including her invoking classic anti-Semitic canards about Jewish money and political manipulation. She previously labeled the Jewish state as ‘Evil.’ I join with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in urging the House Foreign Affairs Committee to take bi-partisan action and officially censure Congresswoman Omar for her hateful statements.

“To be clear, this is not about the right to criticize Israel or any other nation, but rather to deal with an elected member of Congress’ public anti-Semitism. Even after her tweeted ‘apology’ she has retweeted others who still utilize offensive anti-Semitic tropes.

“We further urge the Committee to ask Speaker Pelosi to remove the anti-Semitic Congresswoman from her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Her anti-Jewish biases and extreme anti-Israel views make her unfit to help shape the foreign policy of the United States.”

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).