Rep. Ilhan Omar shushes Fox News reporter as Dem faces backlash for comment on 'pro-genocide' Jews
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, shushed Fox News congressional correspondent Aishah Hasnie while attempting to press her about her recent comments about "pro-genocide" Jews.
Hasnie approached Omar as the "Squad" member was stepping out of a car and on her way to a presser.
"Congresswoman, do you regret the comments that you've made about Jewish students being pro-genocide?" Hasnie asked, which Omar ignored.
"Do you believe that there are demonstrators out there that are pro-genocide?" Hasnie followed. Again, Omar avoided the question.
Hasnie then asked, "Would you care to elaborate on those comments?"
Omar immediately shushed Hasnie and waved her hand in the correspondent's face as she kept walking.
Omar has been facing intense backlash in recent days for comments she made last week while visiting Columbia University's anti-Israel encampment.
She was asked by FOX 5 New York to comment on the growing antisemitism Jewish students are facing on college campuses.
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"So I met a lot of Jewish students who were in the encampment," Omar responded. "And I think it is really unfortunate that people don't care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide."
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamationl League, condemned the comments as "patently false and a blood libel' suggest any Jewish student is "pro-genocide."
"It is gaslighting to impute that Jewish people are somehow at fault for being harassed and menaced with signs and slogans literally calling for their own extermination," Greenblatt wrote on X. "It is abhorrent that a sitting member of Congress would slander an entire group of young people in such a cold, calculated manner. This is how people get killed."
Omar was also called out by her own Democratic colleague, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who accused her of "pouring gasoline" on the growing antisemitism.
"We have members in this body pouring gasoline on that by saying Jews fall into two buckets: pro-genocide and anti-genocide," Moskowitz said on MSNBC earlier in the day. "I mean, I got I got a ten-year-old and seven-year-old Jewish children, I don’t know if they’re pro-genocide or anti-genocide. I guess I’ll talk to them about that."
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is reportedly threatening to level a censure against Omar, calling her comments "wrong."
"Folks can protest Israel, but don't blame Jewish-American students for Israel. That is by definition anti-Semitism," Bacon told Axios.
Fox News' Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.