Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said June 30 that she does not regret equating the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I don’t [regret it]. I think it’s really important to think back to the point I was trying to make, obviously I was addressing Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken. The cases are put together in front of the ICC [International Criminal Court]. The ICC has been investigating, I know that some of my colleagues don’t let legitimacy to the ICC but I tend to think that people around the world who have experienced injustice need to be able to have a place where they can go.”
“And I think as a country that helped found the ICC and supported it, I think it is really important for us to continue to find ways in which people can find justice around the world.”
Jake Tapper asks Rep. Ilhan Omar if she regrets her comments comparing the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban:
“I don’t” pic.twitter.com/iDOvgSIvXI
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 29, 2021
During the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in May, Omar compared the war in Afghanistan to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that the U.S. and Israel should be held to the same level of accountability as Hamas and the Taliban for their “crimes against humanity.” (RELATED: Rep. Ilhan Omar Says She Doesn’t Regret Comparing The US, Israel To Hamas And The Taliban)
“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” the Minnesota representative claimed in a June 7 tweet. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.”
Two months after her statement, the Taliban had successfully taken over Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s withdrawal process. Thousands of Americans and Afghan refugees await evacuation in Kabul and elsewhere in the country.
Omar’s comments previously prompted 12 House Democrats to formally condemn Omar in a June 9 joint statement accusing her of antisemitism. Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush came to the fellow Squad member’s defense, accusing those in opposition of “anti-Blackness and Islamophobia.”