American Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has condemned a poster linking her to the 9/11 attacks displayed at a Republican stall in the West Virginia legislature.
Ms Omar said the “anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist” encouraged threats of violence against her.
West Virginia Republicans said they did not support hate speech and had told the exhibitor to remove the Islamophobic poster.
The Muslim representative was elected in November 2018, one of the first two Muslim women to have been elected to the U.S. Congress.
The poster at last Friday’s West Virginia Republican Day in the state legislature in the town of Charleston depicted her and New York’s twin towers burning alongside the words: “Never forget – you said. I am the proof – you have forgotten.”
In response, Ms Omar said “No wonder I am on the ‘hit list’ of a domestic terrorist and ‘Assassinate Ilhan Omar’ is written on my local gas stations.
“Look no further, the GOP’s [Republican] anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them.”
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Ms Omar’s mention of a “hit list” appears to be a reference to an alleged plot by a self-proclaimed white nationalist.
Christopher Paul Hasson had a cache of weapons and a list of targets including Ms Omar and other prominent Democratic politicians.
The offensive poster of Ms Omar was next to a poster for ‘ACT for America’, which rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists as “an anti-Muslim hate group”.
However, ACT said in a statement that it had no involvement with the poster of Ms Omar and had a “zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination”.
West Virginia House of Delegates member Anne Lieberman later resigned after she was accused in the House of making an Islamophobic remark.
Democratic Delegate Michael Angelucci said that during the argument over the poster, Ms Lieberman said “all Muslims were terrorists”.
In February, Ms Omar apologised for tweets implying US politicians only supported Israel because of lobby money.
She said: “Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
