Lawmaker Apologizes to Ilhan Omar Over Suicide Bomber Joke

It’s not yet clear whether Rep. Boebert will face any discipline. If she doesn’t, she can thank Omar for a precedent she herself had set.

By United Wtih Israel Staff

Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Col) apologized to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) after publicly joking about the Somali-born lawmaker being from the “jihad squad” and worrying if she was a suicide bomber.

“I apologize to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar. I have reached out to her office to speak with her directly. There are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction,” Boebert tweeted on Friday.

Boebert, a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump, apologized in the wake of a video posted on social media in which he joked about Omar. The video was posted by Patriot Takes, a website billing itself as exposing right-wing extremism. According to the Patriot Takes, the video was filmed at a campaign event in Pueblo but did not provide details. The Denver Post reported that Boebert’s Facebook account shows her in Pueblo on Nov. 20 and 21 at a gun show wearing the same clothes as in the video.

In the video, Boebert described stepping into an elevator when she noticed a Capitol police officer running toward her.

“I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching, and the door’s shutting, like I can’t open it, like what’s happening. I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine,'” Boebert told the laughing crowd.

Boebert added that it was “not my first ‘jihad squad’ moment.”

Omar fired back with tweets saying no such encounter ever happened and called for Boebert to be disciplined.

“Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter. @GOPLeader and @SpeakerPelosi need to take appropriate action,” Omar tweeted, adding, “normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress.”

Patriot Takes followed up with a petition calling for Boebert to be stripped of her committee assignments. It wasn’t clear what disciplinary action, if any, might be taken.

The Jihad Squad was a knock on a group of progressive Democratic lawmakers known for — among other things — their hostility towards Israel. Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are The Squad’s best-known figures.

It’s not yet clear if Boebert will face any discipline. If she doesn’t, she can thank Omar for a precedent she herself had set.

Omar faced calls to be disciplined in 2019 after saying that Israel’s supporters in the U.S. were motivated by money rather than principle, tweeting, “it’s all about the Benjamins,” referring to the picture of Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill and rap song of same name. She subsequently apologized, but despite the antisemitic trope of financially powerful Jews, Omar never faced any Congressional or party discipline.

In June, Omar compared Israel and the US to Hamas and the Taliban jihadists in Afghanistan.

“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” Omar tweeted, along with a video of herself questioning Secretary of State Antony Blinken about “war crimes” investigations.

“We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” the tweet continued.

Omar, despite a history of support for organizations with ties to Islamic terror and condemnations of Israel sufficient to be voted “2019’s Anti-Semite of the Year” by StopAntiSemitism.org, was named Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.  Calls to rescind the appointment went unheeded.