According to Rep. Ilhan Omar, her job in Congress is to represent the interests of Somalis.
That’s what Omar, D-Minn., a member of the rabidly left-wing group of House members known as “the Squad,” appeared to be saying in a translation of a speech she delivered in the Somali language at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis on Saturday.
A clip of the speech with a translation was circulated on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday by Marina Medvin, an Alexandria, Virginia-based defense lawyer who boasts of being branded a “conservative firebrand” by Politico.
“We, as Somalians, we love each other,” Omar said in the translation posted by Medvin. “There are areas of friction … that led us to kill each other, but in reality, we are an organized society: brothers and sisters, people of the same blood, people who know they are Somalians first, Muslims second.”
Omar also assailed the Jan. 1 agreement between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi that gave Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in exchange for political recognition of Somaliland, a breakaway nation from Somalia that isn’t internationally recognized.
That doesn’t appear to be a case of the Minnesota congresswoman embracing Somalia first and America second. In Omar’s tabulation, it’s Somalia first, Islam second.
America—by the standard of her own public comments—is apparently just a vessel to promote the interests of another country on the other side of the globe.
Here’s what she said in the translation:
The U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders, and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia. We Somalians must have the confidence in ourselves that we call the shots in the U.S.
She further explained her devotion to Somalia first. “As Somalis, one day, we will go after our missing territories,” she said in the video, an apparent reference to Somaliland.
According to The Blaze, she later said that “Somalia is for Somalis only.”
Omar briefly defended her remarks on X, according to Newsweek, but she hasn’t denied the accuracy of the translation of the video. Instead, she said that the negative comments in response to the viral video are “not only slanted, but completely off.”
She said she “wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists,” referring to her critics.
The Minnesota lawmaker elaborated on her views of the East African political situation.
“No nation state can survive if its states start to get involved in land-lease negotiations with other countries without the consent of the federal government,” she wrote. “Somalis in Somalia and in the diaspora are united in that effort, and I stand in solidarity with them. No amount of harassment and lies will ever change that.”
Rhoda J. Elmi, deputy minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of Somaliland, lambasted Omar on X.
“We were profoundly surprised, even shocked, on discovering the remarks made by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D) of Minnesota in a recent public forum,” Elmi said. “The language she employed was regrettably unbecoming of both the office she holds and the constituents she represents.”
Elmi added that Omar’s “use of ethno-racist rhetoric didn’t escape attention and left many with a deep sense of disappointment.”
What’s remarkable—besides her candid and revealing comments—is that Omar has previously accused American Jews of dual loyalty and allegiance to Israel over the United States.
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” she said in a 2019 panel discussion about Israel.
She later doubled down on X.
Omar had no evidence of this dual loyalty other than relying on a common antisemitic trope. Apparently, the idea that most Americans—Jewish or not—find it in American interests to defend the state of Israel demonstrates “allegiance” to another country.
Given her comments from this past weekend, it seems this may be a case of what’s typically referred to as “projection.”
Many have begun calling for Omar to resign, be expelled from Congress, or to be deported.
“Ilhan Omar’s appalling, Somalia-first comments are a slap in the face to the Minnesotans she was elected to serve and a direct violation of her oath of office,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X, according to the New York Post. “She should resign in disgrace.”
Conservative author Steven F. Hayward had a slightly different take.
“Here’s to hoping [former President Donald] Trump’s deportation list just got one name longer,” he wrote at Powerline. “But failing that, I want her to remain in the House and appearing as the face of the progressive Democratic Party on the Sunday talk shows, so Democrats have to own her.”
Don’t expect Democrats to acknowledge or discuss Omar’s comments. She’s tussled with fellow Democrats about her comments on Israel in the past. But so far, they’ve gone radio silent on her “Somalia first” speech.
The Daily Signal sought a comment from the White House. A White House spokesman responded by pointing to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby’s statement about the deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland.
“On Ethiopia and Somaliland, we’re certainly troubled now by what [is] reportedly included in a memorandum of understanding between Ethiopia and Somaliland,” Kirby said in a press briefing. “As we’ve said many, many times, we support … Somalia’s sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and it’s got to be respected.”
As for Omar, the White House said, she would have to speak for herself.
The Daily Signal reached out to Omar’s office, but had not heard back at time of publication.
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