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Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, in an excerpt from an old interview, resurfaced, joked about people saying "al-Qaeda" and "Hezbollah" in a stern tone – while noting that no one is saying words like "America" that way.
"When I was in college, I took a course on terrorism. … What was interesting in the class was that every time the teacher said "al-Qaeda", his shoulders were relieved, "said Omar during an interview in 2013, while she was an activist at within the Somali community, chuckling while she imitated the teacher. saying "Al Qaeda" and "Hezbollah."
ILHAN OMAR BLOCKED ONCE "OUR PARTICIPATION IN OTHER PEOPLE'S AFFAIRS" AFTER AL-SHABAB'S ATTACK ON KENYAN MALL
Omar then compared how people give the names of terrorist groups to how they pronounce the names of Western powers:
"But you know, you do not say" America "with intensity, you do not say" England "with that intensity. You do not say "the army" with intensity, she said. "… But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something. "
Omar made these remarks during an interview for the "Belahdan" show on Twin Cities PBS, first discovered by Fox News in February. Omar's office did not respond to Fox News's request for comment on the clip.
The segment in question resurfaced this week – published online by the Reagan Battalion, and quickly arousing the indignation of conservative commentators – as part of the controversy surrounding a speech last month in which she described the terrorist attacks. of September 11, 2001 something. "
"CAIR was founded after September 11 because they recognized that some people had done something and that we were all starting to lose access to our civil liberties," Omar said at a business event. Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) funding.
Texas GOP representative Dan Crenshaw vehemently opposed Omar's language, shouting it in a viral tweet: "The first congressman ever to describe the terrorists who killed thousands of people." Americans on September 9 as "people who have done something". Unbelievable. "
At the same time, the New York Post published a dramatic cover page with a photo of the twin towers burned in New York on the day of the attacks: "Here's your thing: 2,977 people died as a result of terrorism."
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Omar's congressional allies defended the MP, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noting that Omar is a co-author of the September 9th Victims Compensation Fund Act.
She also accused Crenshaw of opposing the bill, tweeting: "You refuse to sponsor the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, while having the audacity to spark the resentment towards Ilhan with quotes completely out of context. "
Representative Rashida Tlaib told MSNBC that Omar's words had been taken out of context. "They do it all the time, especially women of color, they take our words out of context because they're scared because we tell the truth, we tell the truth to power," said Tlaib.
Tlaib also warned that such attention could lead to death threats for Omar.
Omar, however, has a history of controversial comments about terrorism.
During the same 2013 interview, Omar described the acts of terrorism as a reaction to "our involvement in the affairs of others" as a result of the brutal attack of al-Shabab on a mall Kenya in 2013, which killed nearly 70 people and injured 200.
"When will we decide or realize that terrorism is a reaction? It's an ideology, it's a way of doing things, it's not an entity, it's not a place, people. It is a reaction to a situation, "asked Omar, the host of the series, Ahmed Tharwat.
"Yes," she agreed. "What you insinuate is what no one wants to face. Nobody wants to deal with how the actions of other people involved in the world have contributed to the rise of radicalization and the rise of terrorist acts. "
She continued, "For us, it's always" I did not do anything. Why does this happen to me? Nobody wants to take responsibility for how these are by-products of the actions of our involvement in the affairs of others. "
"Nobody wants to deal with how the actions of other people involved in the world have contributed to the rise of radicalization and the rise of terrorist acts."
About three years later, Omar – then state representative – wrote a letter to a judge asking for clemency against a group of Minnesota men accused of trying to join the Islamic State terrorist group.
"The best way to deter fanaticism is a system of compassion," she wrote at the time. "We need to change our attitude and our approach, if we really want to make a change, we should refocus our efforts on inclusion and rehabilitation."
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Minnesota's nine men spent decades in prison after being accused in 2015 of making plans, including buying fake passports, in order to travel to Syria and fight for the Islamic State group, which was at the height of its activity and occupied a territory in Syria.
"Such punitive measures not only lack efficiency, they inevitably create an environment conducive to extremism, aligning with the presupposition of terrorist recruitment," she added. .
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