Politics

Ilhan Omar Frustrated By Moderator Question About Female Genital Mutilation

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Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar was visibly frustrated when a moderator asked her a question about female genital mutilation (FGM) during a Tuesday panel discussion.

Omar called the question about condemning the practice, reportedly asked by President of Muslims for Progressive Values Ani Zonneveld during the panel at the Muslim Caucus Education Collective’s 2019 Conference, “appalling” during her heated response.

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“How often, should I make a schedule?” Omar asked. “Like, does this need to be on repeat every five minutes? Should I be like, ‘so, today I forgot to condemn al Qaeda, so here’s the al Qaeda one. Today I forgot to condemn FGM [female genital mutilation], so here it goes. Today I forgot to condemn Hamas, so here it goes.’ You know what I mean? It is a very frustrating question that comes up. You can look up my record. I’ve voted for bills doing exactly what you are asking me to do. I have put out statements upon statements.”

The Somalia-born congresswoman insisted that Muslim legislators are singled out and “are constantly being asked” those questions because of false assumptions. (RELATED: Ilhan Omar: ‘Racist’ Trump ‘Wants Every Black/Brown Person Deported)

“I am, I think, quite disgusted to be honest that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to because the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for, right?” she said. “No, there is an assumption. So I want to make sure that the next time someone is in an audience and is looking at me and Rashida, and Abdul and Sam, that they ask us the proper questions that they will probably ask any member of Congress or any legislator or any politician, and would not come with an accusation that we might support something that is so abhorrent, so offensive, so evil, so vile.”