Pence says Congress should expel Ilhan Omar over antisemitic tweet

“Those who engage in anti-Semitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words,” Pence wrote.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: FEBRUARY 13, 2019 12:23
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar leaves Senate after watching failure of competing proposals to end government shutdown. (photo credit: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS)
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar leaves Senate after watching failure of competing proposals to end government shutdown.
(photo credit: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS)
US Rep. Ilhan Omar should be expelled from Congress or censured over her antisemitic comments, US Vice President Mike Pence tweeted on Tuesday night.
Omar’s “tweets were a disgrace [and] her apology was inadequate. Antisemitism has no place in the United States Congress, much less the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Pence wrote.
“Those who engage in antisemitic tropes should not just be denounced, they should face consequences for their words.”
With his tweet, Pence added his voice to the growing calls for the freshmen Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota to be ousted from Congress.
He and others were upset about – among other things – her tweet that suggested the only reasons US politicians support Israel is that they are paid to do so by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Her words hinted at one of the archetypal antisemitic stereotypes that accuse Jews of using money to control the world.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump said of Omar’s comments, “Antisemitism has no place in the United States Congress... and I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”
Omar has since apologized for her statement. “Antisemitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antisemitic tropes,” she wrote. “My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.”
Trump, like Pence, felt her apology was inadequate.
“What she said is so deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology – and that’s what it was, it was lame, and she didn’t mean a word of it – was just not appropriate,” Trump said.
Pence will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday in Warsaw. The two men are expected to lay a wreath at the monument commemorating the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Netanyahu is also expected to meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday in Warsaw.