During a panel discussion at the Muslim Caucus Education Collective’s 2019 Conference in DC, President of Muslims for Progressive Values, Ani Zonneveld, asked Ilhan Omar if she would condemn the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) that is practiced by some Muslim communities.
Zonneveld brought up the case in Michigan where a Muslim doctor’s was accused of doing the horrific procedure on several girls.Ultimately most of the charges were dismissed against the doctor after a judge ruled declared America's female genital mutilation law unconstitutional.
Zonneveld asked Omar “would you be able to make a statement against FGM because that’s an issue in Detroit.And it would be really powerful if the two Muslim congresswomen, yourself and Rashida (Tlaib), would make a statement on this issue.”
Omar responded by calling the question “appalling”.She said “I think, quite disgusted – really to be honest – that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to, because the assumption exists that we somehow support, and are for – right? No, there is an assumption.So I want to make sure the next time someone is in an audience and is looking at me and Rashida, and Abdul and Sam, that they ask us the proper questions they will probably ask any member of Congress or any legislator."