Oregon Republicans are calling for the only state lawmaker of Middle Eastern descent to be removed from legislative committees and face an expulsion vote because she called for a ceasefire and criticized the Israel-Hamas war as “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

The Oregon Republican Party’s condemnation of Rep. Farrah Chaichi, D-Beaverton, followed an unsuccessful attempt Wednesday by congressional Republicans to censure U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat who has criticized Israel. Like their congressional counterparts, the Oregon Republican Party accused Chaichi of engaging in anti-semitism.

“The Oregon GOP unequivocally denounces the deeply troubling and anti-Semitic comments made by state Representative Farrah Chaichi, HD-35, from her official legislative office,” the party said in a press release.

It came in response to an Oct. 20 statement from Chaichi’s legislative office calling on Oregon’s congressional delegation to demand an immediate ceasefire and block U.S. money for Israel.

“United States foreign policy has consistently made these issues worse,” Chaichi’s statement concluded. “We have been witnessing war crimes against Palestinians for decades, and it is time to end our complicity.”

Chaichi told the Capital Chronicle she thought the Republican Party was trying to distract from a real conversation about what she described as a genocide paid for with American taxpayer dollars. The U.S. House passed a $14.3 billion Israel aid package Thursday, with Oregon’s two Republican members of Congress voting for it and the state’s four Democrats opposed. President Joe Biden and the Democratic majority in the Senate want a broader bill with aid for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza.

“I think that not even including the link to my statement is pretty misleading and a little bit cowardly, because there is nothing in there about Jewish people,” Chaichi said. “We are literally witnessing a genocide and that’s where the focus should be. Either they didn’t read my press release or they are willfully misrepresenting it.”

Her statement didn’t include a condemnation of Hamas and the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, where more than 1,000 civilians were killed and hundreds more were kidnapped. Chaichi said she “obviously” opposed killing any innocent people, but that Congress has the ability to sway Israeli leaders.

“Our congressional delegation is not meeting with leaders of Hamas,” Chaichi said. “They’re meeting with diplomats from nations, and that’s where we should be focusing our efforts. And honestly, would Hamas have the power that they have if there hadn’t been a blockade on Gaza for 15 years? I don’t know.”

Chachi said she has followed the lead of Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish group that has sponsored or co-sponsored anti-Israel rallies across the U.S. over the past few weeks. The Anti-Defamation League, a pro-Israel nonprofit that tracks anti-semitism and advocates for civil rights laws, has criticized the group as anti-semitic and tracked incidents of members defending the Hamas attack as “resistance” and “self-defense.”

The Oregon Republican Party called in its press release for Chaichi to be removed from her legislative committee assignments and for the state House to vote on expelling her. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Dan Rayfield, who controls committee assignments, said no one contacted Rayfield’s office with complaints about Chaichi.

Oregon has only ever expelled one lawmaker: former Republican state Rep. Mike Nearman, who helped plan an armed incursion at the Capitol in December 2020. A current Republican state representative, Brian Stout, is barred from participating in legislative committees because he’s the subject of a restraining order from a former campaign volunteer who alleged that he sexually assaulted her and threatened her life.