Muslim advocacy groups in US sound alarm over Islamophobic Congressman Mark Green

Muslim advocacy groups in the United States have sounded the alarm over the appointment of Islamophobic Congressman Mark Green to the chair of the US House's Homeland Security Committee over his history of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Earlier this week, House Republicans selected Green, who is a physician and retired US Army major who has served as the representative for Tennessee's 7th congressional district since 2019 and former GOP state senator in Tennessee, to lead the House Homeland Security Committee, Middle East Eye reported on Saturday.

Muslim organizations have condemned the appointment to the committee over his previous statements against Muslims and the Islamic faith.

“Rep. Green’s well-documented history of hate speech against Muslims… and immigrants made him unfit to be Secretary of the Army, and that history makes him unfit to chair the House Homeland Security Committee,” Sumayyah Waheed, senior policy counsel at Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights group based in Washington, told the Huffington Post.

“As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green is a threat to Muslims - especially to those that live at the intersections of the communities he has gleefully attacked for political gain,” she added.

At a 2016 meeting of the Tea Party, Green opposed teaching about Islam at public school students in Tennessee. One audience member said that “we need to take a stand on the indoctrination of Islam in our public schools”. To which Green responded, “I agree.”

 “We have to teach the history of the Ottoman Empire, Mecca, Medina, and all of the assault of Islam out into the Levant and North Africa, and Constantinople,” he said, using the phrase “Muslim horde” to describe the spread of Islam.

“But, when you start teaching the pillars of Islam, when you start teaching how to pray as a Muslim, that is over the top and we will not tolerate that in this state,” he declared.

Islamophobia in US Congress: Ilhan Omar called a

Islamophobia has reared its ugly head again in the US.

Green also called for a ban on Syrian refugees entering Tennessee in 2015.

“If you hold stereotypes about communities, how can you effectively move on issues that are really nuanced and require a greater understanding of the issues?” Sabina Mohyuddin, the executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council, a Tennessee-based civic engagement group, told the Huffington Post.

Rachel Del Guidice, Green's communications director, told Middle East Eye that some media outlets "cut and spliced his words about terrorism and ISIS, falsifying what Rep. Green said".

"Rep. Green has not, and will not ever, force his religion on anyone. He believes that every American has a right to defend their country," Del Guidice said. "Vilifying people of faith because they don’t agree with progressive policies is against America’s founding principles - the very principles he fought to protect," she added.

In addition to Green, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been accused of Islamophobia after he said that he was sticking to his promise about removing Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Muslim from Somalia, from her position on the foreign affairs committee.

“I do not actually think that he has a reason outside of me being Muslim and thinking I should not be,” Omar told the Huffington Post on Wednesday. “If you look at the comments from Republicans, it’s precisely for only that reason.”

McCarthy has vowed to remove Omar from her House committee posts over her condemnation of Israel’s war crimes after becoming the speaker of the House.

Omar has hit back, “From the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads.”

“Whether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country (despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years), this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family,” she added.

Journalist: ‘Institutional racism inherent in US political system’

African American journalist and political analyst told Press TV that McCarthy's threats illustrate “the institutional racism inherent in the US political system.”

“McCarthy's threat to ban Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from participating in the foreign relations committee is an outrage,” Abayomi Azikiwe said.

“It should be illegal under Constitutional law since Congresswoman Omar has been elected three times by her constituents in the state of Minnesota,” Azikiwe said. “She has not been charged or found guilty of breaking any United States laws or Congressional rules.”

“This is an attempt to further criminalize African Americans and Muslim Americans in the US McCarthy's threats illustrate the institutional racism inherent in the US political system. During the late 1960s, militant African American Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was illegally expelled from the House of Representatives leaving his district without representation for three years. Powell was eventually vindicated by the Courts. Omar should wage a struggle to maintain her full authority as a member of Congress,” he added.

Omar has long been critical of the regime of Israel and its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Along with US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the two have triggered a widespread debate in the US about Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians and American aid to the regime.

Omar hits back after McCarthy vows to remove her from House committees

Muslim US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said the Republican Party uses “fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads.”

Tlaib and Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, are outspoken critics of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and vocal supporters of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement. The two called “Israel” an “apartheid state” guilty of war crimes.

The 37-year-old US lawmaker is originally from Somalia and represents Minneapolis, Minnesota, a district with a large Somali population.

Omar has accused pro-Israel lawmakers of showing “allegiance to a foreign country,” and has criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for its role in shaping US policy.

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