Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, on Tuesday, Oct 10, 2023, described comments by some Democratic members of Congress about Israel’s reprisal attack on Gaza as “repugnant”.
Jean-Pierre told reporters that “there are not two sides” when it comes to the attack on Israel by Hamas.
Already, a trio of members of the left-wing ‘Squad’ — Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush — are under fire for their reactions to the heinous attacks, which have killed at least 1,000 Israelis, mostly civilians.
Omar called Israel’s efforts to fight back against the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas a “war crime,” while Tlaib and Bush both called on the U.S. to stop sending funds to Israel.
But Jean-Pierre, first Black White House press secretary, conveyed the White House’s disagreement with those comments:
“Look, I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend and we are going to continue to be very clear, we believe they are wrong. We believe they are repugnant and we believe they are disgraceful.
“Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped hundreds – hundreds of Israelis…There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here, there are not two sides.”
Omar, who is Muslim and has gotten in trouble before for using anti-Semitic stereotypes, initially condemned Hamas’ attack on Saturday.
She also asked the international community to pray for the Palestinians as Israel responded to Hamas’ attack.
“Reminder, Gaza doesn’t have shelters or an iron dome and to please pray for them. May peace prevail in the region and move us towards a moral awakening to care about the human suffering we are seeing. Palestinians are human beings who have been in besieged and are deserving of protection from the international community,” Omar said.
