Rep. Ilhan Omar drew condemnation from all sides for comparing “atrocities” committed by Hamas, Israel and the U.S., among others.
Hamas issued a statement praising Omar for “defending justice,” but criticizing the Minnesota Democrat for comparing the Palestinian militant group to the U.S. and Israel.
The terrorist organization said Omar had equated the “victim” to the “oppressor.”
“She equated the resistance of the Palestinian people on the one hand, and the crimes of the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the American aggression in Afghanistan on the other,” wrote Dr. Basem Naim from Hamas’ international relations office.
“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice,” Omar tweeted Monday.
“We appreciate Mrs. Ilhan Omar’s stances in defending justice and the rights of the oppressed around the world, foremost of which are the just rights of our Palestinian people, but we deplore this unfair combination,” Naim wrote.
Meanwhile, 12 Jewish Democratic House members blasted her comparison as “offensive” and “misguided” in a letter. They urged her to clarify her words.
Omar then called criticism of her words “Islamophobic” and “offensive.”
But days later, as criticism piled on from all the way up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Omar issued a clarification.
“On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about an ongoing International Criminal Court investigations,” Omar said in the statement. “To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel.”
The “Squad” member added that she was “in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.”
After Omar’s clarification, Pelosi said the matter was settled.
“I think that she clarified her remarks and we accept that, and she has a point that she wanted to make and she has a right to make that point,” Pelosi said. “There’s some unease about how it was interpreted.”
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
