‘I’m Going To Go For Now’: Ilhan Omar Blows Off Questions On D.C. Terror Attack

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota dismissed a reporter on Thursday after she was asked to comment on what FBI officials are calling a terror attack in Washington, D.C.

A gunman shot and killed Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, both members of the Israeli Embassy staff, on Wednesday evening outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Lischinsky and Milgrim, who were soon to be engaged, were at the museum to attend a Jewish conference of the American Jewish Committee.

“I’m going to go for now,” Omar said after being approached outside the Capitol Building by a reporter asking about the killings. 

🚨 JUST IN: Ilhan Omar REFUSES to condemn the assassination of Israeli diplomats in DC last night

Omar is an ISLAMIC TERRORlST who needs to be deported back to Somalia.

NOT IN CONGRESS. pic.twitter.com/sstQadHDQg

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 22, 2025

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned Omar’s reaction to the attack during a press briefing on Thursday.

“It’s despicable and, frankly, we have seen a rise in antisemitic protests, of pro-Hamas protests, of terrorist sympathizers. We saw them on our college campuses and we’ve seen the Democratic Party turn a blind eye and in some cases actually embrace such antisemitic illegal behavior,” said Leavitt. “The president has made it very clear that such hatred will have no place in our country.”

.@MaryMargOlohan: “Do you or President Trump have a message to politicians like Ilhan Omar, who this morning explicitly avoided condemning this act of terror?”@PressSec: “It’s despicable…the President has made it very clear that such hatred will have no place in our country.” pic.twitter.com/g9BXuhCqLh

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 22, 2025

Omar condemned the violence in a post on X: “I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night. Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers. Violence should have no place in our country.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar identified the victims. Sa’ar called the tragedy “a horrific terrorist attack,” according to ABC News.

“This is the direct result of toxic anti-Semitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the October 7th massacre,” Sa’ar said. “I have been worried for the past few months that something like this would happen. And it did.”

Omar has been embroiled in controversy over comments regarding terrorism before. In 2021, she earned a rebuke from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for appearing to equate the United States and Israel with terror groups.

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“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” Omar wrote in a post on X. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban. I asked Secretary Blinken where people are supposed to go for justice.”

Pelosi said Omar was “drawing false equivalencies.”

“Drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the US and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all,” Pelosi said in a joint statement with other Democratic leaders.

In March 2019, Omar spoke at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet and referred to the 9/11 terror attack as “some people did something.”

“Here’s the truth,” said Omar. “For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” CAIR was founded in 1994, not in response to 9/11, contrary to Omar’s claims. 

At the time, Nicholas Haros Jr., who lost his mother on 9/11, took offense to Omar’s characterization.

“Today I am here to respond to you, exactly who did what to whom,” said Haros. “We know who and what was done, there’s no uncertainty about that.”