NANCY BACKS DOWN FROM 'SQUAD'
Won’t punish Ilhan after pals rally to defense
“The Squad” has gone to war with its own party leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, over her rebuke of Rep. Ilhan Omar for comparing the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban.
And it looks like the far-left upstarts, who are increasingly influencing Democratic Party stances, won this battle, with Pelosi saying on Friday that she would not punish Omar.
The Pelosi about-face came after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Squad member and one of the two Muslim women in the House along with Omar (D-Minn.), took aim at the speaker and other members of the Democratic leadership, claiming “freedom of speech doesn’t exist for Muslim women in Congress.”
Tlaib’s comments came in response to Pelosi and the leaders releasing a statement blasting Omar for her antiAmerica and anti-Israel tweet.
“We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity,” Omar had written on Monday. “We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice.”
Tensions between Democratic leadership and the Squad have become increasingly evident as progressives have been more vocal in their support of Palestinians despite the US’s longtime pro-Israel stance.
While Omar walked back her comments after the Pelosi slapdown, she initially accused her critics of “harassment” and “Islamophobia.”
That came after Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) called her out for the US-Israel comments.
“Legitimate criticism of the policies of both the United States and Israel is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate. And
indeed, such criticism is essential to the strength and health of our democracies,” the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
“But drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the US 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.
“We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the US and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.”
That spurred Tlaib to tweet: “Freedom of speech doesn’t exist for Muslim women in Congress. The benefit of the doubt doesn’t exist for Muslim women in Congress. House Democratic leadership should be ashamed of its relentless, exclusive tone policing of Congresswomen of color.”
Pelosi then backed off her rebuke of Omar, saying at a press conference on Friday, “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.
“There’s some unease about how it was interpreted,” Pelosi said. “She made her clarification.”