(Jerusalem Post) Ilhan Omar, a newly elected Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, secured a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, bringing to that high-level forum experience as a Somali refugee, perspective as one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, and dissent as a harsh critic of America’s longstanding allies in the Middle East.
The freshman lawmaker has called for cuts in defense aid to Saudi Arabia and questions Israel’s right to exist. Within the very hour of her committee appointment, Omar expanded on that criticism, referring to Israel as a “regime.”
She spoke with CNN and defended a tweet she posted in 2012 that claimed “Israel has hypnotized the world.”
