Short answer: No. As of August 2026, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has a long, well-documented record of opposing Israeli government policy. She backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, voted against a 2023 resolution condemning Hamas's October 7 attack and affirming Israel's right to self-defense, was formally banned from entering Israel in 2019, and has repeatedly called Israel's Gaza campaign a "genocide." She has also made several remarks about Israel and its supporters that colleagues in her own party publicly condemned as antisemitic. She is not Jewish; she is a Muslim American of Somali origin.
What Ilhan Omar has actually said and done
February 10, 2019: Omar tweeted that Republican support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins," and when asked who was funding it, replied "AIPAC!" The remarks drew bipartisan backlash and criticism from Democratic leadership calling them antisemitic. She apologized the next day while maintaining her criticism of AIPAC's lobbying influence, according to NPR and CBS News.
July 17, 2019: Omar introduced a House resolution defending BDS, comparing it to historic boycotts including of Nazi Germany, per US News & World Report. The House later voted 398-17 to formally condemn the BDS movement; Omar was one of the 17 no votes.
August 15, 2019: Israel announced it would bar Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib from entering the country ahead of a planned visit, citing their support for BDS under a 2017 Israeli law, following public pressure from President Trump, according to the Times of Israel and Yahoo News. Omar has still never visited Israel.
June 7, 2021: Omar tweeted that "we have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," which Jewish House Democrats said amounted to morally equating the US and Israel with terrorist groups, CNN reported. Hamas itself objected to being equated with Israel, per the Jerusalem Post. Omar clarified she was referring to International Criminal Court accountability, not a moral comparison, and House leadership accepted the clarification.
October 25, 2023: Omar was one of just 10 House members to vote no on H.Res. 771, which backed Israel's right to self-defense and condemned Hamas's October 7 attack; the resolution passed 412-10. She said it failed to acknowledge Palestinian civilian deaths from Israeli military action, according to Patch and the official Congress.gov record.
April 2024: Omar voted against the Israel Security Supplemental foreign-aid package, stating in an official press release that "it's unconscionable to provide a blank check to the Israeli military while the genocide of Palestinians continues."
January 21, 2025: Amid the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, Omar warned that "genocide" in Gaza could continue and called for an arms embargo on Israel, per the Algemeiner.
April 10, 2025: Omar announced she would run for reelection to Minnesota's 5th Congressional District in 2026 rather than seek the open US Senate seat, according to Axios. She remains an active, sitting member of Congress, with the Democratic primary set for August 11, 2026.
Who is Ilhan Omar
Ilhan Omar is a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives for Minnesota's 5th District, first elected in 2018 as one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, and a member of the informal progressive "Squad." She is a practicing Muslim of Somali descent, born in Mogadishu, with no personal Jewish-identity connection.
Her record on Israel is consistently critical: she supports BDS, has repeatedly voted against pro-Israel resolutions and military aid packages, and has called Israeli conduct in Gaza "genocide." Several of her individual remarks, most notably the 2019 "Benjamins" tweet and the 2021 Hamas/Taliban comparison, drew formal condemnation from Democratic leadership and prompted a bipartisan House resolution (H.Res. 246, 2019) addressing antisemitic tropes, though the final version was broadened to condemn hatred generally rather than name her directly. She apologized for the 2019 remarks but has not walked back her substantive criticism of Israeli government policy or US military aid to Israel. She was formally barred from entering Israel in 2019 and, as of August 2026, has never visited the country.
The bottom line
Ilhan Omar does not support Israel. Her public record, votes, and statements from 2019 through 2026 are consistently critical of Israeli government policy, and several of her specific remarks about Israel and its supporters have been condemned as antisemitic by lawmakers in her own party. She has no Jewish-identity connection; she is Muslim and Somali-American.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
