Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blamed the right-wing media for criticism aimed at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) stemming from remarks in which she appeared to equate the U.S. to the Taliban and Hamas.
The story: The New York Democrat made the comments during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
Bash pointed to the congresswoman’s initial response to the backlash that Omar faced.
“Pretty sick & tired of the constant vilification, intentional mischaracterization, and public targeting of @IlhanMN coming from our caucus. They have no concept for the danger they put her in by skipping private conversations & leaping to fueling targeted news cycles around her,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last week.
“First question is, what exactly did your fellow Democrats mischaracterize? And are you saying that they are to blame for some threats against her?” Bash asked.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Omar’s remarks were “mischaracterized” and said the “right-wing news outlets” were responsible for the attention that the comments received, accusing them of “taking what she said out of context.”
“Well, I think, I believe that her comments were absolutely mischaracterized,” she said. “She was very clearly speaking about the ICC investigations, which name these four actors in two suits. And they name them in context of events that happened in Afghanistan with the United States and the Taliban, and in Palestine with Hamas and the government of Israel.”
“And we know that these very intense news cycles, which, by the way, started, this whole hubbub started with right-wing news outlets taking what she said out of context,” the congresswoman told Bash.
“And when we feed into that, it adds legitimacy to a lot of this kind of right-wing vitriol. It absolutely kind of increases that target. And as someone who has experienced that, it’s very difficult to communicate the scale and how dangerous that is,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
How we got here: Omar came under fire after she tweeted a video of her questioning Secretary of State Antony Blinken during Monday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing.
“We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice,” she wrote in the caption.
Critics slammed the congresswoman for seemingly placing the U.S. and Israel in the same category. A total of 12 House Democrats condemned Omar and asked her to clarify her remarks. She initially accused them of using “Islamophobic tropes” in their statement.
Omar later issued a statement of “clarification,” claiming her comments were misinterpreted.
Members of “The Squad” including Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO) defended Omar.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) issued a joint statement, writing: “We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.”
During an appearance on CNN, the House Speaker pushed back against claims that she rebuked Omar.
“We did not rebuke her. We acknowledged that she made a clarification.”
“Congresswoman Omar is a valued member of our caucus,” Pelosi said. “She asked her questions of the Secretary of State. Nobody criticized those… That was not of concern. Members did become concerned when the tweet that was put out equated the United States with the Taliban and Hamas.”
