Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) fended off several primary challengers and won the Democratic nomination for the House of Representatives in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, NBC News projected.
Omar defeated former Minneapolis City Councilman Don Samuels, who lost to the congresswoman by just 2 percentage points in the 2022 primary, and two other challengers.
Omar is a member of the so-called “Squad” of Democrats who are known for their anti-Israel positions and for their calls on the Biden administration to condition aid to Israel.
Her victory follows two previous defeats for “The Squad” in recent primaries. Just last week, Rep. Cori Bush lost her primary in Missouri to challenger Wesley Bell.
In late June, group member Jamaal Bowman lost his Democratic primary in New York to Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
Omar did not face an onslaught of attack ads from outside groups as did the other candidates from “The Squad” who were defeated in their primaries.
Samuels sought to paint Omar as out of touch with the district, alleging in one ad that the congresswoman “has gone missing on the issues that matter most to us.”
Omar’s criticism of Israel goes back to 2019, when she came under fire after she suggested on Twitter that Republicans were attacking her at the behest of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.
She subsequently issued a half-hearted apology before ultimately deleting the controversial tweets.
In another incident, Omar shared to Twitter a video of a conversation she had with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which she appeared to compare Israel and the United States to Hamas and the Taliban.
Omar has recently come under fire again for her condemnation of Israel’s actions in the war against Hamas.
The congresswoman caused an uproar and was criticized after she retweeted a photo of dead children and claiming that they died as a result of the IAF's bombing of Gaza. The photo was revealed to be a photo of children who died as a result of the Syrian army's nerve gas bombing.
She later was quick to blame Israel for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza which was ultimately proven to have been caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket.
In April, Omar visited the Columbia University campus, where she met with anti-Israel protesters who had set up an encampment on the campus. She visited the protest together with her daughter, Isra Hirsi, who had been suspended by the university over her participation in anti-Israel activity.