Ilhan Omar has deep concerns with Biden's Israel policy. She's still sticking with him after the debate.
Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images
- Ilhan Omar has criticized the Biden administration for allowing what she calls a "genocide" in Gaza.
- Yet she and other Squad members are sticking with the president in his moment of weakness.
- "There is not going to be a situation where the President is being removed," she told BI.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, along with other members of the progressive "Squad," has been a staunch critic of President Joe Biden's policies on Israel.
Like other progressives, the Minnesota congresswoman has used the term "genocide" to describe Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the nine months since the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Omar's been pretty direct about that criticism, too, accusing the Biden administration of "greenlighting the massacre of Palestinians" at a February press conference.
Yet with Biden in his weakest political position ever, struggling to retain the support of Democrats on Capitol Hill, Omar has remained firmly behind the president, declining to join the growing number of her colleagues who have publicly called on him to step aside. She's unhesitant in defending that approach, arguing that former President Donald Trump would be worse.
"Obviously, I would like the administration to cut funding to Israel. We will continue to push for that," Omar told Business Insider on Wednesday. "I think for the genocide in Gaza, with Trump, it will be worse."
"Domestically and internationally, we will be devastated by a Trump presidency, and at this point, it is important that we do everything that we can to help we re-elect Biden," Omar continued. "So what's the conflict?"
Other progressives who have been critical of Biden on Israel, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have also remained behind Biden after his disastrous debate performance.
A large part of their argument is simply that Biden will be the nominee, and that there's no way to change that. "The matter is closed," Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday.
That's a significant contrast to progressives outside of Congress, many of whom have rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative.
"He's the nominee. I'm fully behind him," Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who recently lost his primary to a moderate Democrat in large part due to his criticism of Israel, told BI this week. "The debate performance wasn't the best, but what are we going to do now? We can't have Trump and Project 2025."
Some have even suggested that Harris would handle the issue of Israel in a way that's more in line with progressive preferences, pointing to differences from Biden in her rhetoric on the topic.
But Omar wouldn't entertain the idea of a Harris candidacy.
"There is not going to be a situation where the President is being removed from being the nominee," said Omar. "It is done, case closed. I work in reality, not in fantasy."