Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. angryly hit her back at Congress Republicans in a fiery address in the House floor Thursday in reaction to a decision to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. She was kicked off her position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Omar, a New York Democratic lawmaker declared to her fellow lawmakers they were claiming that they were aware that GOP had been “targeting women of colour” by voting to remove Omar who Republicans claim was because of previous antisemitic and anti-American comments.
Ocasio-Cortez also claimed that her fellow members of the GOP of hypocrisy by raising Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga). and in high-profile assignments to committees, despite her own previous history of controversial comments regarding Jewish people.
The congresswoman banged her notebook into the podium after her speech had ended.
A few hours before a vote of 218-211, a majority in the party, to expel Omar off the committee Ocasio Cortez took to the House in an ardent rejection of Omar’s “disgusting” after-effects of 9/11 that included “targeting and discrimination towards Muslim Americans.”
“I think that one of the issues we need to discuss here is also one of the most disgusting legacy of 9/11. It’s been the discrimination against and racism towards Muslim Americans throughout the United States of America,” she added.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “And this is an extension of that tradition!”
Then she attacked House Republicans who claimed that the decision is “consistent” in their earlier statements regarding the Minnesota Democrats’ behavior. Ocasio-Cortez also made reference to a prior “threat” regarding her life by an ally in Congress, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz). He was sacked from Congress in 2021 after he shared the meme of anime cartoon characters fighting each other that included the AOC’s image. Omar has faced criticism for using antisemitic slurs like saying pro-Israel lawmakers were bought and paid from the advocacy group American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“Consistency? There’s nothing inconsistent in the Republicans’ ongoing assault, besides the racism and incitement to the violence against females of colour within this group. I’ve had someone from the Republican Caucus threaten my life and the Republican Caucus rewarded him with one of the most highly regarded committee assignments in the current Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
In a furious tone, she added, “Don’t tell me this is about coherence! Don’t claim that this is about condemning antisemitic comments when you have one of the members of the Republican caucus that has been talking about Jewish lasers in space and many other clichés as well as also made her a member of some of the most prestigious committee positions in the body!”