Rep. Ilhan Omar said Tuesday that Republican attacks against her and her fellow Muslim lawmaker Rep. Rashida Tlaib are designed to stifle the voices of their religious community.
“I tell my sister, Rashida Tlaib, that her and I have the strength to endure any of the mischaracterization or efforts to distort, and vilify and mischaracterize our message,” the Minnesota Democrat said on MSNBC’s “All In” show.
“It is designed to silence, sideline and almost eliminate [the] public voice of Muslims from the public discourse and so I’m really excited that we have the opportunity to build alliances, and push back and fight this attempt to marginalize our community’s voice,” she said.
Both Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaib, who in January became the first Muslim women to ever serve in Congress, have both been blasted for remarks lawmakers have deemed as anti-Semitic.
Ms. Omar accusations stemmed from her criticisms of pro-Israel lobbyist groups and questioning the loyalty of Jewish lawmakers who pushed back against her criticisms of the Israeli government.
Ms. Tlaib drew backlash Friday when she said she got a “calming feeling” from how Palestinians handled the Holocaust.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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