Too Little, Too Late: Rep. Omar Tries to "Clarify" Statement on U.S., Hamas, Israel, and Taliban

As we’ve told you, Representative Ilhan Omar has said yet another controversial statement relating to foreign policy at a time when we are witnessing multiple domestic and foreign crises.

Rep. Omar – an elected member of the United States Congress, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee – just compared America and America’s greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, to known terrorist organizations.

The controversy began when Rep. Omar tweeted out:

We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked Sec. Blinken where people are supposed to go for justice.

These words are equating the United States and the Israeli military with the Taliban and Hamas. To compare these terrorist organizations that have committed the worst possible crimes against humanity to the United States and Israel is absurd. This is especially true since this is not the first time that she’s made these types of remarks. In 2019, she tweeted about the relationship between the U.S. and Israel being “all about the Benjamins,” an antisemitic trope. This is unacceptable, especially for a U.S. Member of Congress.

Rep. Omar was forced to explain herself with a statement clarifying her tweet after she was met with criticism from Congress including the leadership of her own party:

On Monday, I asked Sec. Blinken about ongoing International Criminal Court investigations. To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC [International Criminal Court] 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.

While Rep. Omar needed to address her remarks, her clarification was too little and too late. Members on both sides of the aisle realized the implications of her words. Her own party has had to issue a resolution in the past just to attempt to cover her tracks.

However, after Rep. Omar was criticized by Speaker Pelosi and other leadership in Congress, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) quickly came to her rescue. Rep. Cortez tweeted:

Pretty sick & tired of the constant vilification, intentional mischaracterization, and public targeting of Rep. Omar 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.

Really? What about the danger posed to the U.S. service members by telling the rest of the world that the U.S. is equivalent to the Taliban? How is Rep. Omar still sitting on the Foreign Affairs Committee after her disturbing track record of these types of remarks?

ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell commented on Rep. Omar’s incendiary remarks:

Let’s remember this is not her first time. She’s had multiple chances now of really messing up here. We keep tripping over ourselves in the national media to give her yet another chance or another explanation. Remember in talking about 9/11 – she said some people did something – really minimalizing 9/11. She’s compared the U.S. to Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Taliban now. It’s a growing problem in the way she views America. She clearly doesn’t like America being a leader. She wants us to be one of many. So therefore, she jumps at the chance to highlight any problem as being a systematic problem, and that’s where I have the hardest time with her worldview. She doesn’t think that America is exceptional – she doesn’t think that we are the greatest. And look – it’s fine for her to critique American policy and Israeli policy. We are all for it. It’s a free country and she gets to that. But I think it’s really dangerous and she should be called out consistently when she tries to blame America first for the world’s problems. She’s lost her perspective.

The ACLJ has called for Rep. Omar to be censured and removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee. It is time for members of her party to step up and do more than issue statements every time she makes one of these incredibly insulting and dangerous remarks.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of Rep. Omar’s controversial tweets and response from Congress. Read further analysis here:

Watch the full broadcast below.