Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar snapped back at a moderator during a panel discussion at the Muslim Caucus Education Collective’s 2019 Conference on Tuesday, calling his question “appalling.”
President of Muslims for Progressive Values, Ani Zonneveld, reportedly asked the freshman congresswoman to condemn the practice of female genital mutilation that is practiced by some Muslim communities.
After calling her question “appalling,” Omar continued by expressing frustration that she is repeatedly asked to condemn different groups and practices, saying, “Should I make a schedule? Like, does this need to be on repeat every five minutes? Should I be like, ‘so, today I forgot to condemn al Qaeda, so here’s the al Qaeda one. Today I forgot to condemn [female genital mutilation], so here it goes. Today I forgot to condemn Hamas, so here it goes.’ It is a very frustrating question that comes up. You can look up my record. I’ve voted for bills doing exactly what you are asking me to do.”
Omar continued to assert that she and fellow freshman congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, as well as other Muslim lawmakers, were often asked the same questions repeatedly. She said, “I am, I think, quite disgusted to be honest that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to because the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for, right? No, there is an assumption. So I want to make sure the next time someone is in an audience and is looking at me and Rashida, and Abdul and Sam, that they ask us the proper questions they will probably ask any member of Congress or any legislator.”
Omar then directed her furor directly at Zonneveld, chiding her for her question and saying she was wrong to bring up “an accusation that we might support something that is so abhorrent, so offensive, so evil, so vile.”
