Ilhan Omar responds to critics with a measured op-ed citing James Mattis

Ilhan Omar.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Amid a firestorm surrounding her recent comments about U.S. policy toward Israel, which many on both sides of the political aisle called anti-Semitic, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) penned an op-ed in The Washington Post that was published on Sunday evening.

The overarching thesis of Omar's argument is that the U.S. must apply its values universally when dealing with questions of foreign policy. That is, the U.S. government should not condemn human rights abuses in Iran on the one hand, and look past similar infractions committed by Saudi Arabia because of political alliances on the other.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.