GOP House lawmaker unveils resolution to censure U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska released a resolution Tuesday in an attempt to censure Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar following remarks she made about Jewish students during a visit to Columbia University last month.

The progressive lawmaker’s comments at a university encampment on April 25 sparked criticism. Bacon’s resolution, released during the week of Holocaust remembrance, is the latest GOP pushback.

During her visit, Omar, a vocal supporter of Palestinians, told a reporter that she met Jewish students at the protest and “all Jewish kids should be kept safe.” She went on to say that “we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide,” a phrase that Republicans and others sharply criticized.

Bacon’s resolution, shared with the Star Tribune, takes aim at those remarks and her “recent hateful comments and history of antisemitism.”

“Representative Omar has a long and demonstrated history of hateful rhetoric that plays into the worst antisemitic tropes,” the resolution reads. “Representative Omar’s slanderous comments against Jewish students could inflame violence against the Jewish community.”

The Republican lawmaker has not filed the resolution as a privileged motion and it’s unlikely to be heard this week, Bacon’s office said.

Omar’s spokeswoman Jacklyn Rogers said in April that the congresswoman “clearly condemned antisemitism and bigotry for all Jewish students.”

“Attempts to misconstrue her words are meant to distract from the ongoing violence and genocide occurring in Gaza and the large antiwar protests happening across our country and around the world,” she said.

Censuring a House lawmaker “registers the House’s deep disapproval of Member misconduct,” but it does not result in a members’ expulsion. If a censure resolution is approved, a member is forced to stand in the “well of the House” while the House speaker reads the censure publicly on the House floor.

This is not the first GOP censure attempt Omar has faced. GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought a censure motion against the congresswoman in February following mistranslated remarks in which Omar talked about her support for Somali Americans. That measure never received a vote.

Republicans also voted to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in February after seizing on past remarks she made as their basis from blocking her from returning to her post.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of Minnesota’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called Bacon’s resolution “Islamophobic” and another example of the attacks Omar often faces.

“The congresswoman has been deliberately targeted by both Republicans and Democrats who have used Islamophobic tropes,” Hussein said.

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said he is not surprised by the censure resolution.

“She votes against the fundamental needs of Israel’s self-defense against Iran and its proxies, the Iron Dome system. She seemingly equates Israel’s self-defense with genocide. She echoes the venomous rhetoric on college campuses. Whether it rises to the level of censure is for the Congress to decide,” Hunegs said.

One of Omar’s sharpest critics in the wake of her recent remarks has been fellow Minnesotan and GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who criticized her for “encouraging violence against Jewish students” and saying the congresswoman has joined the “likes of Hamas and Iran with her endorsement of the pro-terrorist, antisemitic protests.”

Omar’s daughter Isra Hirsi, a student at Barnard College in New York City, was recently arrested and suspended from college for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University. She was charged with trespassing.