Republicans remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee

House Republicans voted Thursday in a party-line vote to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans described the removal as a consequence for comments that Omar had made that were critical of U.S. support for Israel, and said her conduct meant she should not be dealing with foreign affairs. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said she could still serve on other committees. Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries described the move as “political revenge.”

What did Omar say about Israel? She tweeted in 2019 that lawmakers who supported Israel were paid to do so. She also accused supporters of Israel of swearing allegiance to a foreign power. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called those remarks offensive, and Omar apologized for her comments, saying she understood why they were interpreted as “antisemitic.”

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Dunn’s report from the WORLD archives about how the Israel question stumped one faculty union in New York.