In defending her recent comments comparing Israel and the United States with Hamas and the Taliban, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) also took the opportunity to criticize House Democrat colleagues.
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In the wake of May's 11-day conflagration between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, in which Islamists fired over 4,300 rockets at Israel, Omar attempted to draw a comparison between the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan and the Israel-Palestine conflict. She stated that all sides in the wars had committed atrocities and each should be held accountable for their "crimes against humanity."
Tapper called out Omar's original tweet, which drew criticism from members of Congress, asking if she regretted sharing it with the public.
"[Jewish members of Congress] haven't been partners in justice. They haven't been equally engaging in seeking justice around the world."
Ilhan Omar responding to charges of past antisemitism by bringing new antisemitic tropes into the convo is quality TV.pic.twitter.com/3793nNBc8W
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 30, 2021
"I don't," Omar replied. "I think it's really important to think back to the point that I was trying to make. Obviously, I was addressing Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken."
Tapper pressed the progressive Democrat further, enquiring whether she understood why her history of anti-Israel and antisemitic comments might have caused her colleagues to have at least mildly called for "clarification."
"I've welcomed any time my colleagues asked to have a conversation to learn from them [and] for them to learn from me," replied Omar. "I think it's really important for these members to realize that they haven't been partners in justice.
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It was not just Jewish commentators and politicians who criticized Omar for the comparison, Hamas was reportedly furious that it had been bracketed with Israel as committing human rights abuses.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
