The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution to remove Democrat Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over alleged anti-Semitic remarks.
The vote, which had 218 votes in favor to 211 against, highlights the tensions between Democrats and Republicans in the House. While the former allude to a political vendetta, the latter claim that Omar’s comments were «anti-Semitic», as reported by CNN.
Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, who lost in the vote to Republican Kevin McCarthy, has claimed that the vote is in retaliation for the removal, during the Democratic term, of Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from two committees for hateful comments.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed last year that if he won office he would strip Democrats Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff of their seats on the House Intelligence Committee, who he said «created new standards» of behavior.
Last week, the Republican made good on his words and denied the seats to both representatives, who also played a key role in the impeachment trials against former President Donald Trump. The decision was condemned by Democrats.
By contrast, the Republican side argued that the vote to impeach Omar came about because of his anti-Semitic comments. The Democrat apologized in 2019 for Twitter posts in which she alluded to Republican support for Israel being contingent on donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Her comments were disapproved by the now Speaker of the House of Representatives. Omar has been critical of the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
