Rep. Ilhan Omar Faces Backlash from Democrats For Statement Appearing to Compare U.S. to Hamas, Taliban

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team issued a statement Thursday addressing statements by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that purportedly compared the U.S. and Israel to the Taliban and Hamas terrorist groups. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,” Omar tweeted on Jun 7. After her initial tweet, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and other Jewish House Democrats issued a statement urging Omar to clarify her statements, to which Omar replied that her colleagues' "Islamophobic tropes," "harrassment" and "silencing" were "offensive" and "unbearable." On Thursday morning, however, Omar stated her comments were directed toward ongoing International Criminal Court probes, and that she "was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems." On Thursday, Pelosi and her team stated that while "legitimate criticism" of U.S. policies is protected by free speech, "drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the U.S. and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all." The statement also said that the team "welcome the clarification" from Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban. 

Omar's comments, as well as the backlash from Democratic lawmakers, received coverage from across the spectrum; the story was covered more frequently by right-rated outlets. Some center- and right-rated outlets framed the incident as a potential indicator of a growing divide within the Democratic party.