Rep. Ilhan Omar Blasts CNN Pundit Scott Jennings | EUROtoday

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) lambasted CNN on Friday after a pundit on the information community claimed, with out pushback from anybody on set, that the congresswoman was a “public relations agent for Hamas.”

Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist who beforehand labored as a particular assistant to President George W. Bush, mentioned Tuesday evening on CNN’s “NewsNight” that he was “surprised, that in the year of our Lord 2024, there is a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in the United States Congress.”

Jennings went on to say that he “didn’t hear a word of concern” from Omar in regards to the roughly 250 hostages taken by Hamas through the Oct. 7. assault on Israel. Israeli forces responded with an aggressive bombing marketing campaign that killed greater than 30,000 Palestinians

He was referring partly to feedback Omar had made earlier that day on CNN, when she advised host Abby Phillip that it was her understanding that Israel hadn’t attended cease-fire negotiations in Egypt.

“We obviously want the hostages released and returned to their families. There are American hostages that are included. There is in infant that is included in those hostages. It is important that we do everything that we can,” she mentioned. But Omar added of Israel, “We can’t be dishonest to the point where we are saying that everybody is doing everything they can to be at the table to negotiate.”

In a written message to HuffPost, Omar slammed Jennings’ “hateful rhetoric” and mentioned he’d lied about her interview.

“This blatant Islamophobia and racism are all too common for people who look, and worship like me. When Islamophobia is at an all-time high, the normalization of this hate must be condemned unequivocally,” she wrote in a message to HuffPost.

Phillip, an anchor on “NewsNight,” didn’t problem Jennings’ claims about Omar’s earlier feedback. Other panelists on the present — S.E. Cupp, a CNN political commentator and author, Democratic pundit Jamal Simmons and CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston — additionally didn’t push again on Jennings’ declare that Omar was doing PR for Hamas.

“It was deeply disappointing that Abby Phillip failed to fulfill her duty as the anchor to correct him or call out his hateful, anti-Muslim remarks,” Omar advised HuffPost.

CNN didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.

Other progressive Democrats have additionally known as out the community for permitting Jennings to make such feedback, and are calling for the community to interrupt ties with him.

“How on earth is this kind of blatant Islamophobia so casually accepted without pushback? This is shocking,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mentioned Wednesday in a submit on X (previously Twitter).

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) mentioned in a submit on X that Jennings’ feedback had been “reminiscent of the anti-Muslim bigotry we saw in the George Bush post-9/11 era.”

“It is disgusting and must not be normalized. CNN should denounce this hateful, dangerous and blatant Islamophobia immediately,” she added.

“CNN should never have him on again!” mentioned Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.).

In her e-mail to HuffPost, Omar mentioned that her congressional district has skilled an uptick in anti-Muslim assaults and that feedback like Jennings’ solely exacerbate Islamophobia.

“It’s dangerous and unacceptable to normalize hateful, bigoted comments made on prime time tv that only fuel the flames of anti-Muslim sentiment,” she added.