In the wake of the Republican Party gaining a majority in the US House of Representatives, committee assignments became subject to the will of the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

Some members of the Democrat Party who are especially frowned upon by Republicans have, for various reasons, been stripped of certain committee assignments. These notably include Eric Swalwell, who was removed from the Intelligence Committee due to his past intimate association with a suspected Chinese spy. Since the Intelligence Committee has special access to classified information, it appears that Mr. Swalwell might not be eligible for a security classification. Thus is seems reasonable to keep him away from sensitive information. Naturally, the Democrats disagree.

But the Democrats have taken a special level of umbrage towards the exclusion of Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs committee. The exclusion was upheld in a largely party line vote, and so she is off that committee. One of the reasons for her exclusion was past anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks. “But wait!” the Democrats cry, “she isn’t all that bad!” Apparently they believe that her remarks didn’t cross a line — although I’d like to know where they set that line.

While not, strictly speaking, a Democrat Party shill, the news organization called The Intercept, agrees that Omar hasn’t been egregious enough. In a recent email broadcast to subscribers they wrote:

“For years, Republicans made spurious allegations of antisemitism against Rep. Ilhan Omar for her criticisms of Israel — and Democrats joined in.”

See The Intercept’s article here: HOW DEMOCRATS PAVED THE WAY FOR KEVIN MCCARTHY’S ATTACK ON ILHAN OMAR

“[S]purious allegations”? Hmmm. I don’t know what playbook The Intercept is working from, but it sure seemed to me that Omar definitely holds prejudicial views against both Jews and Israel.

The Intercept characterizes Omar’s remarks that resulted in her removal from the committee as insufficient, and intimates that she was doing us all a favor for pointing out that Israel doesn’t treat some Palenstinians nicely (you know, those folks who carry out deadly terror attacks on Israel?), and who maintain lobbying organizations in the US — like every other special-interest group in the world?

Well, anyway, in case you haven’t noticed, Israel is the only country in the Middle East which has a pluralistic society, where both Muslim and Jewish citizens have equal rights, and women are likewise treated equally. But who cares about that, right?

There should be questions raised about Omar’s suitability for the Foreign Affairs committee when for one thing the nation of Israel won’t let her visit because of her support for anti-Israel actions. Since Israel is an important US ally and Foreign Affairs committee members should be able to visit foreign countries the US has a relationship with, it makes sense to exclude her from that committee.