WASHINGTON—Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) along with several members of the House Progressive Caucus, rallied with a group of anti-war rabbis in condemning the ongoing Israeli bombing of Gaza and called for a ceasefire between the Hamas terror group and Israel during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol this week.
Shortly after the “Rabbis for a Ceasefire” press conference, The Floridian spoke to Rep. Omar where she said that she and other House Democrats have condemned Hamas for the attack on Oct. 7.
But at the same time she appeared to defend Hamas by questioning Senator Marco Rubio’s assertion that Hamas broke an existing ceasefire with Israel.
“Is he ok? I mean, truly, seriously,” Omar said of Rubio. “The fact that these people behave as if we are not watching the slaughter of human beings and children is insanity to me. What are they rooting for?”
However, the Minnesota congresswoman also that it was incredible to see Rabbis “stand with us.”
“It was incredible to see a group of Rabbis come out for a ceasefire and stand with us. I hope that the rest of the members of Congress do,” said Rep. Omar, a member of the Progressive "Squad" in the House of Representatives.
Appearing a bit more animated, Omar then questioned the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tactics in dealing with Hamas, questioning if Israel couldn’t “figure out how to go after Hamas” instead of bombing and killing innocent civilians.
“We provide all this training. The United States provides all this training and weaponary (sic) to Israel. They cannot figure out how to go after Hamas? They have to kill civilians? It’s ridiculous,” said Omar.
A couple hours prior to speaking to Omar, The Floridan sat down with Senator Rubio to discuss the war against Hamas.
“There was a ceasefire. Hamas and Israel were in a state of ceasefire until they decided to cross the border and butcher 1,600 people and take hostages. That ended the ceasefire. So, I get it. They kill 1,600 people then the run back into their tunnels and then they want it all to stop,” said Rubio.
Rubio then made his case, echoing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that a ceasefire only helped Hamas.
“In this case, if you are for a ceasefire, you might as well say you are for Hamas because you’d be helping them. That is what they want,” added Rubio.
According to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rubio is right. A ceasefire did exist prior to the October 7th terror attack.
“Remember, there was a ceasefire on October 6, that Hamas broke by their barbaric assault on peaceful civilians,” said Clinton. “There was a ceasefire. It did not hold because Hamas chose to break it.”
Israel recently stated that until all the hostages were released, there was no possibility of a ceasefire. Israel did however agree to 4-hour pauses in military operations.