Bradley Martin; JNS
“ 'Ilhan Omar has no business whatsoever being on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement M. Zuhdi Jasser told JNS."
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| The unsmiling Squad. |
"Accusations of Islamophobia came almost immediately after the U.S. House of Representatives voted earlier this month to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from its Foreign Affairs Committee. The vote followed repeated promises from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to remove the congresswoman due to her history of antisemitic and anti-Israel remarks.
"Omar took to CNN’s State of the Union show, saying “it is politically motivated, and in some cases, motivated by the fact that many of these members don’t believe a Muslim refugee, an African, should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”
"If the censure of Omar is Islamophobic, that would be news to several Muslim reform groups that work to combat radical Islamism and praised McCarthy’s decision to remove Omar from the committee.
"Asra Q. Nomani, co-founder of the *Muslim Reform Movement and a former professor at Georgetown University, told JNS that Omar is “a lieutenant in a dangerous network of leftists and anti-Israel Muslims that I call the ‘Woke Army.’ ”
"That army weaponizes “the media, political institutions, the Democratic Party, the law and shame to silence critics and do everything in their power to realize the destruction of Israel,” said the Northern Virginia-based scholar. “Make no mistake about it, the Woke Army is rooted in a deep, ideological antisemitism, and so is Ilhan Omar’s campaign against Israel. They used character assassination to smear anyone who gets in their way with the allegation of Islamophobe.”
"M. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix-area physician and co-founder with Nomani of the Muslim Reform Movement, is also president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. “As an American, and as a Muslim, I strongly believe that Rep. Ilhan Omar has no business whatsoever being on the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Jasser told JNS. “There’s nothing more pro-Muslim than ensuring that prominent Muslims in sensitive positions be publicly vetted for loyalties to anti-American Islamist movements and their inherent ideologies.” . . .
"Omar appeared alongside Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who defended their colleague and dismissed accusations that Omar is antisemitic. (Schiff is Jewish.) McCarthy removed Schiff and Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, citing national security concerns."
*Muslim Reform Movement
We are Muslims who live in the 21st century. We stand for a respectful, merciful and inclusive interpretation of Islam.
We are in a battle for the soul of Islam, and an Islamic renewal must defeat the ideology of Islamism, or politicized Islam, which seeks to create Islamic states, as well as an Islamic caliphate.
We seek to reclaim the progressive spirit with which Islam was born in the 7th century to fast forward it into the 21st century. We support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by United Nations member states in 1948.
We reject interpretations of Islam that call for any violence, social injustice and politicized Islam. Facing the threat of terrorism, intolerance, and social injustice in the name of Islam, we have reflected on how we can transform our communities based on three principles: peace, human rights and secular governance.
We have courageous reformers from around the world who have written our Declaration for Muslim Reform, a living document that we will continue to enhance as our journey continues.
We invite our fellow Muslims and neighbors to join us.
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