Republican congresswoman and chairwoman of the House Republican Conference Liz Cheney (Wyoming) excoriated House Democrats Sunday over their handling of the Ilhan Omar controversy, and accused Democrats of becoming the party of ‘anti-Semitism, infanticide, and socialism’.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, explained her decision to vote against a symbolic resolution drafted by Democrats which had originally been drawn up to condemn anti-Semitism, but was later rewritten to condemn bigotry in general.
“There’s nothing objectionable in the resolution,” said Cheney, “but I decided to vote against it because I think that it was really clearly an effort to protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her. The Democrats have yet to take any action to remove her committee.”
“They’ve got a real problem. The extent to which they are now abiding by anti-Semitism, enabling anti-Semitism in their party is something we’ve watched them struggle with. But that’s something that is very dangerous for the country.”
Referring to the Democratic House leadership’s failure to condemn Omar amid allegations of anti-Semitism, congressional Democratic opposition to a bill to ensure protection to infants born alive after botched abortion attempts, and the “New Green Deal” proposal pushed by New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cheney accused Democrats of becoming the “party of anti-Semitism… infanticide…and socialism.”
“The Democrats have been in charge now for about two-and-a-half months in the House, and in that time they’ve become the party of anti-Semitism, the party of infanticide, the part of socialism, they’ve passed legislation that’s violated the First Amendment, the Second Amendment. It’s really time for the Democrats in the leadership of that party to stand up and act worthy of the trust the American people placed in them.”
“The kind of anti-Semitism that you’re seeing now from Ilhan Omar and that has been supported by her colleagues is a kind of anti-Semitism that really has the ability to creep in and become normalized in our discourse.”
Last week, House Democrats drafted a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, following a string of comments by freshman Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar which were condemned by the Anti-Defamation League, Republican lawmakers, and even some Democratic leaders as anti-Semitic.
While Omar earlier this year said she regretted her choice of words in a 2012 tweet which read “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel,” the congresswoman later accused Jewish groups of buying off lawmakers to support Israel, and accused Israel backers of “allegiance to a foreign country.
Democrats have thus far refused to punish Omar for her statements, despite criticism from some senior Democrat House members, leaving her on the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee.
Republicans ripped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders for failing to name Omar in the House resolution on anti-Semitism.
House Democrats later faced further criticism last Wednesday when the resolution condemning anti-Semitism was expanded to cover other forms of bigotry, leading Florida Democrat Ted Deutch to issue rare criticism of his own party.
“When a colleague invokes anti-Semitic lies three times, then this body must condemn anti-Semitism,” said Deutch.
“Anti-Semitism is worthy of being condemned on its own.”