Omar: 2012 Tweet About ‘Evil Doings Of Israel’ In Gaza Was ‘Unfortunate’
Representative Ilhan Omar said her choice of words in 2012, when she tweeted that “Israel has hypnotized the world” during the war with Gaza, was “unfortunate.”
PBS host Christiane Amanpour asked the Minnesota congresswoman Wednesday whether she regretted the statements she made then, and what she would say now to American Jews.
“I remember when that was happening, watching TV, and really feeling as if no other life was being impacted in this war,” Omar said. “Those unfortunate words were the only words I could think about expressing that moment.”
She continued: “What is really important to me is that people recognize that there is a difference between criticizing a military action by a government that has exercised really oppressive policies and being offensive or attack-y to particular people of faith.
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 16, 2012
Referring to her pro-BDS stance, Omar said Israel is not the only country she has boycotted — she mentioned Saudi Arabia is another.
“To me it is important, when you see oppression taking place, when you regressiveness happen, when you see our values being attacked as humans, you must stand up,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who the inhibitors of that particular region might be. What matters is who is leading it. And we must address the kind of leadership that leads to a more unjust world, if we’re to actually express our values of peace and justice in the world.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO