Rep. Cori Bush defended fellow Squad member Rep. Ilhan, Omar, following backlash over her comments about Israel and the U.S.
“Stop attacking @IlhanMN. Stop attacking us. I’m not surprised when Republicans attack Black women for standing up for human rights. But when it’s Democrats, it’s especially hurtful. We’re your colleagues. Talk to us directly. Enough with the anti-Blackness and Islamophobia,” she wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
During Monday’s hearing with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Omar pressed Blinken on his opposition to the International Criminal Court investigating alleged war crimes in both “Palestine and Afghanistan.” Omar claimed that war crimes committed by both “Israeli Security Forces and Hamas,” should be investigated.
Omar also tweeted that there were “unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”
Following the hearing, Democratic Reps. Brad Schneider, Brad Sherman, Josh Gottheimer, Jake Auchincloss and Ted Deutch released a statement asking Omar to “clarify her words.”
“The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups,” the statement reads in part. “We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words placing the US and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban.”
Omar is refusing to cower.
“It’s shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for ‘clarification’ and not just call,” she wrote on Twitter. “The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment [and] silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.”
Originally posted 2021-06-11 14:00:00.
