Hamas 'Deplores' Rep. Ilhan Omar's Comparison of U.S., Israel to Their Mission

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar issued a statement last week saying there must be accountability and justice for all victims of crime against humanity in the ongoing Middle East crisis. She said the atrocities have been carried out by the U.S., Israel, Afghanistan, Hamas and the Taliban.

Hamas on Friday, while praising Omar's stance in "defending justice," chastised her for comparing their group to the U.S. and Israel.

First, here's the tweet on Monday that Omar sent:

"We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice," Omar wrote.

Her tweet from only a week ago drew more than 5,000 comments, which is tenfold her average number of engaged followers. It also drew the ire of Hamas, which issued its own statement Friday.

Dr. Basem Naim of Hamas' International Relations Office praised Omar for "defending justice," but blasted the Minnesota representative for an "unfair comparison" to Israel and the United States.

"We appreciate Mrs. Ilhan Omar's stances in defending justice and the rights of the oppressed around the world, foremost of which are the just rights of our Palestinian people, but we deplore this unfair combination that is contrary to justice and international law," the Hamas website stated.

"The Palestinian people have been living under the Zionist occupation for more than seven decades, during which they suffered a lot, and the most heinous crimes were committed against them. Throughout these decades, they remained steadfast, fighting for their freedom and independence, given all opportunities, showed a lot of flexibility, and paid very high prices to achieve these rights by peaceful means. However, the other side refused to comply with all international resolutions, and continued its arrogance and oppression of our people and threatening international stability and security, and unfortunately, with the full support and protection of successive US administrations."

Last week, a dozen Jewish Democratic House members denounced Omar's tweet, saying the comparisons of Hamas and Israel/U.S. were "offensive" and "misguided." Omar called the criticism from her Democrat colleagues "offensive" and "Islamophobic."

"On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about an ongoing International Criminal Court investigations (ICC)," Omar said. "To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel."

Omar added that she was "in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems."

Despite that, eight House Republicans demanded Omar be removed from House committee assignments, similar to House Democrats earlier this year demanding a removal of Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments after her controversial remarks.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Omar's "clarification" settled the matter, and that Omar's initial remarks were misinterpreted.

"I think that she clarified her remarks and we accept that, and she has a point that she wanted to make and she has a right to make that point," Pelosi said. "There's some unease about how it was interpreted."