Friday on CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to “choose her words more carefully going forward” after Omar recently compared the United States and Israel to the terrorist group Hamas.
Luria emphasized that “words matter” and Omar’s comments are “unacceptable,” noting it “is definitely not the first time this type of thing has happened.”
“First, I’d start by saying words matter, and these comments that conflated the U.S., U.S. military, U.S. troops with the Taliban and Hamas, are unacceptable, and I thought it was very important to speak out against that especially as someone who served two decades in the military. You know, I represent a community where one out of every five people is in the military or a veteran, and to have a fellow member of the House and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee … use those words saying that the U.S. troops or military were in any way the same as terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Taliban is unacceptable. And these voices, extremes on both the left and the right, get a lot of attention, and I think it’s very important for someone like me, someone with a military background, someone who’s a moderate and I think represents the views, you know, on either side of the aisle in the middle of the majority of Americans to speak out against these kinds of comments.”
“I’m quite disappointed that she and other members of the House have continued to double down,” she added.
“Ilhan Omar has said things in the past,” host John Berman pointed out. “She has tweeted out antisemitic memes in the past and then had to apologize at various levels. How much did that factor into your displeasure with what she said?”
Luria replied, “You know, this is definitely not the first time this type of thing has happened, and, you know, I hope that she’ll choose her words more carefully going forward.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.