Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) says she does not regret her controversial comments about the United States, Israel, Hamas and the Taliban.
CNN’s Jake Tapper noted on Tuesday that Democratic leaders said comparing the U.S. and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban “foments prejudice.” He also pointed out a group of Jewish House Democrats wrote a letter saying her comments were antisemitic.
“Do you regret these comments?” Tapper asked.
Omar responded, “I don’t. 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 Blinken.”
Watch her comments below:
Ilhan Omar: "I don't" regret equating U.S. and Israel with the Taliban and Hamas terrorists. pic.twitter.com/XpR0e6kVeo
— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) June 29, 2021
The lawmaker also said she has “welcomed any time my colleagues asked to have a conversation to learn from them, for them to learn from me.”
Omar continued, “I think it’s really important for these [House] members to realize that they haven’t been partners in justice. They haven’t been engaging in seeking justice around the world and I think I will continue to do that. It is important for me as someone who knows what it feels like to experience injustice in ways that many of my colleagues don’t.”
Earlier this month, Omar said she received death threats following her comments, as IJR reported.
“This is incited directly by articles like this and far right politicians like this. And it is enabled by a political culture — in both parties — that allows and often fuels Islamophobia,” Omar tweeted along with screenshots of a Fox News article and a tweet from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).
This is incited directly by articles like this and far right politicians like this.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 10, 2021
And it is enabled by a political culture—in both parties—that allows and often fuels Islamophobia. pic.twitter.com/93ixmVCmMx
In her original tweet, Omar said, “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.”
She added, “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”
We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 7, 2021
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. pic.twitter.com/tUtxW5cIow
Axios noted she was referencing International Criminal Court investigations.
Omar’s comments were also mentioned in a resolution introduced by three House Republicans “condemning and censuring” members of the “Squad” earlier this month.
In a press release on June 10, Omar said, “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. I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.”
