This week, Muslim Democrat Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar, a staunch supporter of the pro-Palestine anti-Israel BDS movement introduced a resolution that would reaffirm “American rights to boycott,” just a week before the House was scheduled to vote on an anti-BDS bill.
Although Omar’s bill, which is unsurprisingly co-sponsored by the other pro-Palestine Muslim House Rep. Rashida Tlaib, did not explicitly state that it was to protect support of the BDS movement, Omar herself told media that she introduced the resolution with regards to Israel, and the BDS movement’s Twitter page thanked Omar and Tlaib for the creation of the bill.
See the BDS tweet thanking Omar and Tlaib here for yourself:
Not only did Omar introduce a bill to prevent measures being taken against the anti-Israel BDS movement, but she actually compared boycotting Israel to boycotting Nazi Germany, implying that American ally Israel is on the same level as Hitler's Germany!
Take a look at this shocking statement by Omar that is going viral on Twitter:
Other members of Congress are outraged over Omar's controversial resolution and support of the BDS movement to boycott Israel.
Check out what they're saying about the bill on Twitter:
Fox News has more to say on Omar's latest controversial resolution and comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany:
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar proposed a resolution this week supporting the right to boycott Israel, likening the boycott of the Jewish state to boycotts of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Omar’s resolution seeks to push back against U.S. laws banning the boycott of Israel and affirms the right of Americans to organize boycotts of foreign countries if they so wish.
While the resolution doesn’t explicitly name Israel or the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, she told media outlets that the resolution concerns the Jewish state.
“We are introducing a resolution … to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our First Amendment rights in regard to boycotting,” Omar told Al-Monitor.
“And it is an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement,” she added.
The resolution attracted some Republican detractors, with Rep. Lee Zeldin slamming Omar for introducing it, saying she brought “her hateful twist” by propping up the BDS movement.
“Israel is our best ally in the Mid East; a beacon of hope, freedom & liberty, surrounded by existential threats,” Zeldin wrote in a tweet. “Shame on Rep Omar for bringing her hateful twist on that reality to House Foreign today, propping up the BDS movement & blaming Israel for all of its challenges.”
The resolution affirms the right to boycott as an expression of free speech and cites examples of boycott movements against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and apartheid South Africa.
“Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad including ... boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust,” Omar said in the resolution introduced Tuesday.
Al-Monitor also gave these details on Omar's resolution to protect American rights to boycott Israel:
House Democrats today rallied around a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s racist tweets against four high-profile freshmen congresswomen.
But at least one of those congresswomen — Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — is about to drop her own resolution that may not go over so well with Democratic leadership. Her resolution would defend the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
“We are introducing a resolution … to really speak about the American values that support and believe in our ability to exercise our first amendment rights in regard to boycotting,” Omar told Al-Monitor. “And it is an opportunity for us to explain why it is we support a nonviolent movement, which is the BDS movement.”
The Minnesota Democrat noted she intends to introduce the bill early this week. At the same time, Democratic leadership plans to advance another nonbinding resolution condemning the BDS movement on Wednesday.
Omar and her colleague — Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — became the first and only lawmakers to support the BDS movement after winning their elections last year. Republicans have repeatedly seized upon their pro-BDS stance to paint the Democratic Party as anti-Israel — something that was not lost on Donald Trump during his multiple Twitter tirades targeting both congresswomen.
After tweeting that Omar, a Somali American Muslim refugee, and Tlaib, a Palestinian American, should go back to their countries alongside Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Trump invoked Israel to justify his remarks. At multiple points, he insisted that they “hate Israel” and quoted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said that “they talk about Israel like they’re a bunch of thugs, not victims of the entire region.”
And while Trump’s racist remarks unified Democrats and allowed them to paint over high-profile spats that had emerged between the party’s leadership and the four progressive congresswomen last week, Omar’s resolution could once again put the intra-party divisions on full public display.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., has so far resisted Republican calls to kick Omar off of the panel. But he has previously accused Omar of “invoking a vile, anti-Semitic slur” after she said, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.” Her remarks prompted the House to pass another nonbinding resolution condemning anti-Semitism and Islamophobia 407-23 in March.
On Wednesday, Engel’s committee will vote on an anti-BDS resolution, introduced by Reps. Bradley Schneider, D-Ill., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. The resolution was a priority for American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) activists during their annual lobbying day earlier this year. The committee also plans to vote on a military aid bill that codifies the $38 billion, 10-year memorandum of understanding with Israel into law — another AIPAC priority.
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