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A top House Republican called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to resign Monday for delivering a speech in which her critics say she placed Somali interests ahead of American ones.
“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. “She should resign in disgrace.”
Omar, the first Somali American in Congress, appeared to assure her Somali American constituents that she would do everything in her power to prevent the disputed, breakaway Republic of Somaliland from entering into a sea-access deal with landlocked Ethiopia.
A clip of the Minnesota lawmaker went viral with over 2.6 million views after it was posted on X, with a translation saying Omar had said: “As Somalis, one day we will go after our missing territories.”
The congresswoman claims her remarks were lost in translation.
“It’s not only slanted but completely off,” Omar said of the subtitles in a video of her speech shared by Republic of Somaliland Foreign Minister Rhoda Elmi. “But I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists.”
Ilhan Omar
Omar claims her remarks were lost in translation.
“While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea,” Omar said during the Jan. 27 speech, according to a translation she deemed to be more accurate. “The United States will not back others to rob us. So, do not lose sleep over that.”
Elmi urged House leadership and Democrats to “take note of [Omar’s] public conduct,” arguing that the speech was “unbecoming [of] a United States Congresswoman.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) slammed Omar for vowing to protect Somalia’s borders while opposing efforts to shore up the US-Mexico border.
“Terrorist sympathizer Ilhan Omar in her own words: Somalian first. Muslim second. She never mentions America,” Greene tweeted.
Ilhan Omar
Omar is facing a Democratic primary challenge for her seat in Congress launched by former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels.
AP
“She flaunts using her position as congresswoman to protect Somalia’s border while our border is invaded by MILLIONS of illegals who are a danger to America,” the Georgia Republican added. “These people hate America and they’re so emboldened by the Democrats’ disdain for our country, they’re not even trying to hide it anymore.”
The Republic of Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, but is not widely recognized internationally, including by the US. Omar wants to keep it that way.
“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 on X. “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.”
We think ‘Somali Weyne’ a.k.a. ‘Greater Somalia’ is dead and gone for good with its former pusher the late ‘Af-Weyne’ a.k.a. ‘Big Mouth’ Ziad Barre. No, it is alive and well in Minnesota. When this person, a sworn elected member of the US Congress declares she has availed her service to a foreign power/nation, then I take that as her vacating her seat and renouncement of her US citizenship. I am now wondering if she recognizes Oromos like me and the rest of Oromos in her state as Oromos or ‘Somali Abos’. According to the manifesto of ‘Somali Weyne/Greater Somalia’ the entire area east of the Awash River is Somalia’s territory including the entire Western Hararghe where my entire Itu clans live. I don’t know where but we have to move. Hey Ilhan! Please give us some time to move. Also I had heard some Somali friends calling her a ‘fake Muslim and donning hijab as a show-off for a publicity stunt’. Now, I did not say that but my Somali friends themselves did and I’m telling you what I heard them saying. Don’t kill the messenger here!!!!
It should have been abundantly clear to this congresswoman that she was elected first and foremost to serve the country of her citizenship. If she carries out her responsibility as a United States of America federal legislator she should treat every nation that is in friendly term with USA just as such. In this case, she should have been better disposed of if she called for calm between Somalia and Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a staunch ally of her country of current citizenship and a partner in the fight against terrorism based in the country of her former citizenship. In real terms she has declared war on Ethiopia. It is no different from the current saber rattling by that super power wannabe in Cairo. I can’t believe I heard that from an elected legislator. She could have talked about the pressing issues her constituency needs to be addressed like cost of living and others. She completely lost her ways. She should take a lesson or two from her fellow democrat legislator from Colorado. Did we hear from him taking about his parents’ country of Origin? I never remember one. That is called class, discipline and pizzazz.