House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel says he’s not ready to see Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., removed from his panel for comments that have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
“No, I’m not close to it,” Engel, D-N.Y., told CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday when asked if he would remove Omar from the panel.
“First of all, it’s not up to me,” he said. “This is done by the leadership. I don’t know that that would do anything except exacerbate the situation even more. I’m looking to get rid of anti-Semitism, not looking to punish anybody.”
Engel, who is Jewish, said anti-Semitism and discrimination should be condemned in all its forms.
“It’s very important that we keep our eye on the prize, and I think that whenever there is hatred being spewed, or again, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, I think we have to speak out,” Engel said.
Last week, Omar questioned why it was alright for her to talk about the influence of the National Rifle Association but “not talk about a powerful lobby that is influencing policy.” That was a reference to her controversial tweets about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which she deleted and apologized for amid intense backlash from Democratic leadership.
Engel responded to Omar’s comment suggesting a double standard, saying it is “unacceptable and deeply offensive to call into question the loyalty of fellow American citizens because of their political views, including support for the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
In her now-deleted tweets, Omar suggested that support for Israel among her colleagues was “all about the Benjamins baby” and then pointed to AIPAC. She later apologized at the urging of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats, claiming she wasn’t trying to insult “my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole … This is why I unequivocally apologize.”
House Democrats are poised to vote on a resolution rejecting anti-Semitism on Thursday in response to Omar’s comments, but the resolution does not specifically single her out as Republicans have demanded.
