Carrie Prejean Boller has been removed from US President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission following a contentious hearing on anti-Semitism, after she claimed commissioners were being pressured to affirm Zionism.
Commission Chair Dan Patrick wrote on X that the decision to remove Boller was his, accusing her of pursuing a "personal and political agenda" during Monday's hearing.
"No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue," Patrick wrote, adding that what happened was "clearly, without question" grounds for her removal.
Boller said in a statement that she would not resign and rejected accusations that she had pursued a political agenda.
"Forcing people to affirm Zionism as a condition of participation is not only wrong, it is directly contrary to religious freedom, especially on a body created to protect conscience," she wrote.
"As a Catholic, I have both a constitutional right and a God-given freedom of religion and conscience not to endorse a political ideology or a government that is carrying out mass civilian killing and starvation."
The dispute has stemmed from a heated hearing in Washington, DC, where commissioners questioned witnesses about anti-Semitism in the United States.
Boller asked whether criticism of Israel, opposition to Zionism, or protests against Israel's war in Gaza should be considered "anti-Semitic."
"If I don't support the political state of Israel, am I an anti-Semite, yes or no?" she asked.
In a further statement, Boller said she wore an American flag pin alongside a Palestinian flag in solidarity with civilians in Gaza and accused some participants of conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
"Disagreeing with a government's policies is not "derangement." It is a constitutional right and, for me, a matter of Catholic conscience," she wrote.
