Progressives come to Omar's defense

Progressive allies of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) are rushing to her defense as the House prepares to approve a resolution condemning anti-Semitism that is largely seen as a rebuke of the outspoken lawmaker’s remarks about Israel.

Omar’s progressive allies largely stayed quiet during other recent controversies regarding Israel, which led to an apology from Omar.

But this time, Omar is holding her ground, and supporters such as fellow progressive freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are speaking out.

Ocasio-Cortez said advancing a resolution to rebuke Omar should have only been done as a last resort if efforts to address the remarks privately didn’t work.

“ ‘Calling out’ is one of the measures of last resort, not 1st or 2nd resort,” she wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. “We do it when repeated attempts to ‘call in’ are disrespected or ignored. And I believe that Ilhan, in her statement a few weeks ago, has demonstrated a willingness to listen+work w/impacted communities.”

Progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who with Omar is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, also tweeted that her fellow freshman is “being targeted just like many civil rights icons before us who spoke out about oppressive policies.”

The House resolution, which could receive a vote as soon as Wednesday, does not mention Omar at all. But it was thrown together after she accused people who back Israel of pushing allegiance to a foreign country.

“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,” Omar said at an event last week at Washington, D.C.’s Busboys and Poets restaurant. “I want to ask, why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries, or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobby that is influencing policy?”