Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) criticised Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for saying that the US should stop giving “unconditional weapons sales and military aid to Israel” in the wake of the weekend terror assaults that resulted in the killing of hundreds of Israeli citizens.
Lawler referred to the Minnesota Democrat as “unfit to serve in the House of Representatives” and claimed she was out of her mind over her policy recommendation in a post on X, the previous Twitter site.
Iran-funded terrorists have viciously attacked Israel, and now you want to halt financing, military help, and equipment. You are insane and unqualified to hold office in the House of Representatives. You were kicked out of the Foreign Affairs committee as a result of this. https://t.co/nRIulpUgQi
By Mike Lawler on October 9, 2023 (@lawler4ny).
“You want to stop providing funding, military assistance, and equipment? Iran-funded terrorists recently attacked Israel viciously. You are insane and hence unfit to serve in the House of Representatives. For this reason, you were expelled from the Foreign Affairs committee,” Lawler wrote.
In his opening remark, to which Lawler was responding, Omar sought to deflect attention from the Israeli conflict away from Palestinian victims and asked that the United States stop supporting Israel in favour of “peace.”
Omar said on X, “I urge the United States at last to use its diplomatic might to push for peace, instead of continuing unconditional weapons sales and military aid to Israel.”
According to a party-line vote in February, Omar’s remarks from 2019—in which she suggested that MPs who support Israel only do so because they receive financing from the Jewish state—led to her expulsion from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The “Squad,” a term for a gang of leftist lawmakers, includes several Democratic members of the House who have come under fire for their comments on Hamas. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) had the Palestinian flag flying outside her congressional office on Monday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the most well-known members of the “Squad,” dissociated herself from the group and decried the “hatred and antisemitism” at a demonstration in New York City to mark Hamas’s most recent terrorist act against Israel.
Israel declared war on Hamas shortly after the Saturday raids, doing so for the first time since 1973. According to the Associated Press, at least 1,800 people have perished in the conflict since Hamas’s first terrorist attacks.