Republican members of the US House filed a resolution seeking to censure Omar for her criticism of Israel.
(AL JAZEERA) Republicans in the United States House of Representatives are looking to exploit a divide among Democrats over support for Israel following controversial comments last week by Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the three Muslim members of Congress.
Three rank-and-file Republican members of the US House filed a resolution on June 14 seeking to censure Omar and her progressive political allies: members of “The Squad”, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We cannot turn a blind eye to members of Congress openly defending terrorist attacks by Hamas against our close ally Israel nor their dangerous rhetoric which has contributed to anti-Semitic attacks across the country,” Republican Mike Waltz said in a statement announcing the introduction of the resolution.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was reportedly set to bring the issue before a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference on Tuesday. “We are seeing this big fight within the Democratic Party right now over anti-Semites and whether they’re going to stand up and confront this problem,” Steve Scalise, a top House Republican leader said on Tuesday.
The move by Republicans follows the opening of a divide among Democratic legislators over Israel’s 11-day bombardment of Gaza in May that killed 256 Palestinians.