Muslim Elect Congresswomen Making Their Islamic Faith/Palestinian Support Known

Last week,  Somali Muslim refugee Ilhan Omar became one of the first Muslim congresswomen in U.S. history, alongside Rashida Tlaib. At her acceptance speech, Omar greeted the audience with a powerful "As-Salam-Alaikum."

Many Muslims felt this was a homecoming. American Muslims now had Muslim representation in Congress after what they felt were two tumultuous years of a Trump presidency. Writer and host Aymann Ismail shared how he felt "transported" by the gesture. However, others were not quite so sure they were comfortable with it.

Li Izmir runs a popular Facebook page called Secular Muslim Women Group. It was there she confided her conflicted feelings about Omar's gesture, admitting, "I feel mixed about this. I'm happy to see Muslim representation but I don't like religious rhetoric coming from government officials ... regardless of which faith is being brought into politics. Why can't we just all swear on the Constitution and keep religion out of politics?"

Izmir went on to add, "I feel like there's a double standard coming from a liberal leaning side. If a Christian brings up religion, people will lose it but if a Muslim does the same thing, they'll celebrate. In reality, I think religion has no place in official government spaces and it should be equally called out."

Her honest admission brought forward a dialogue among the women, many of whom were also not quick to celebrate what they saw as religious rhetoric by an elected official.

Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, however had no problem allowing herself to be wrapped in a Palestinian flag at her election victory party. 

Tlaib is well known for her support of the BDS movement and other anti-Israel beliefs.

The Zionist Organization of America released the following in condmenation of her actions:

"We condemn Rashida Tlaib's wrapping herself in the flag of a hostile, anti-American regime which has shamelessly claimed that it is entitled as of 'right' to U.S. aid, recently discontinued, and which has engaged in pro-terror, anti-anti-peace acts like honoring terrorists, naming schools and streets after them, paying salaries to jailed terrorists and stipends for the families of deceased terrorists in proportion to the amount of Jewish blood they have shed," said ZOA national president Mort Klein.

"The P.A.-controlled media mosques, schools and youth camps is suffused with glorification of terrorism and incitement to hatred and murder," he added.

Klein also posed: "Is Cong.-Elect Rashida Tlaib's loyalty to America or to a terrorist dictatorship which is an enemy of America!?"

"The ZOA also condemned Rep. Tlaib's record of anti-Semitic extremism, which includes support for 'one-state'; that is, the revocation of Israel's rightful independence and sovereignty and supplanting it by a single state in which Arabs would predominate," he added.