Democratic Party congresswoman Ilhan Omar has denied making a ‘moral comparison’ between Hamas and the Taliban and the United States and Israel after being rebuked by party colleagues for an earlier statement on ‘unthinkable atrocities’ committed by all four.
However, while Somali-born former refugee Omar did issue a clarification, she hit back at detractors in a tweet, saying: ‘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. The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.’
The trouble began on Monday when Omar tweeted that ‘we have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban’.
She wrote: ‘We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.’
The pushback from among her Democrat colleagues included a statement by a group led by New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, saying: ‘Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided.
‘Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits one’s intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice. False equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups.’
Pressure from party colleagues compelled Omar to clarify her views. She 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 US and Israel. I was in no way equating terrorist organisations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.’
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued what the BBC described as ‘a rare joint statement with leaders of the chamber’s committees seeking to quell the party unrest’.
They said: ‘We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the US and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.’
According to BBC North America reporter, Anthony Zurcher, Omar ‘has proven to be a recurring headache for Democratic congressional leadership. While there may be elected officials in the party who agree with her sentiments regarding Israel’s actions, the bluntness of her comments are largely unwelcome’.
Image: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons