Ilhan Omar refuses to attend Israeli President’s Congress address.

Rep. Ilhan Omar Boycotts Israeli President’s Address to Congress

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) has made the decision to boycott an upcoming address by the Israeli president to Congress. In a bold statement, she expressed her refusal to attend the joint session address from a President whose country has banned her and denied @RashidaTlaib the ability to see her grandma. The address, scheduled for July 19, will be delivered by Israeli president Isaac Herzog.

Highlighting the fact that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously barred the first two Muslim women elected to Congress from visiting the country, Omar argued that Herzog should not be invited. Netanyahu issued the ban in 2019, with Tzipi Hotovely, the then-deputy foreign minister, stating that the country bars entry to “those who reject our right to exist in the world.”

Herzog’s visit to Washington is intended to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding.

Omar’s History of Controversial Statements

Omar has a history of making anti-Semitic statements. In 2012, she invoked an anti-Semitic trope, tweeting, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” In 2019, she suggested that pro-Israel politicians were paid off, saying, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.”

This announcement comes just a month after the far-left “Squad” Democrats, including Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), boycotted an address by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

“A joint address is among the most prestigious invitations and honors the United States Congress can extend,” Ocasio-Cortez said ahead of Modi’s June remarks. “We should not do so for individuals with deeply troubling human rights records.”

Omar and Tlaib cited human rights concerns and the treatment of Muslims in the majority-Hindu country as their reasons for boycotting Modi’s address.