United States Rep. Ilhan Omar, in a Tuesday X post, critiqued Senator Marsha Blackburn’s stance that students encouraging or committing acts of terror on behalf of Hamas should be put on both a terrorism watchlist and the US’s No Fly List.
Blackburn posted on X that “any student who has promoted terrorism or engaged in terrorist acts should be immediately added to the terrorist watchlist and placed on the TSA No Fly List.”
In response to the post, Omar wrote, “A sitting senator labels Americans protesting against a foreign country accused of carrying out a genocide funded with our tax dollars as terrorists and puts a target on their back to be attacked. This is insanely dangerous and somehow no one will condemn it.”
A sitting Senator, labels Americans protesting against a foreign country accused of carrying out a genocide funded with our tax dollars as terrorists and puts a target on their back to be attacked. This is insanely dangerous and somehow no one will condemn it. pic.twitter.com/TWKiUpDqZx
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 30, 2024
Hamas is a registered terrorist organization in the United States.
All the students protesting in defense of Hamas terrorists should go live amongst them and get a reality check on what they are actually protesting for. https://t.co/wEKUG7Ewko
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) April 30, 2024
A precursory look at Blackburn’s past X posts showed that the senator regularly criticized the violence at pro-Palestinian protests and the hostile rhetoric expressed during such events but also that none of her posts labeled all pro-Palestinian protesters as terrorists.
Take a look at what is happening on college campuses across the country.There is no doubt these Hamas sympathizers are promoting terrorism right here in the U.S.And they should be treated like the terrorists they are supporting. pic.twitter.com/UkYIiSEl5V
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) April 30, 2024
Further, Blackburn had expressed similar remarks in the past to those that she had made about the watchlist. For instance, she called to “deport foreign students on visas who support Hamas and call for death to America.”
Deport foreign students on visas who support Hamas and call for death to America.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) April 30, 2024
Ilhan Omar’s history of controversial statements
Commenting on the topic of campus protests last Friday, Omar referred to Jewish students as either “pro-genocide or anti-genocide” in reference to Jews who supported or condemned the State of Israel.
Omar’s remarks about Jewish students came while visiting Columbia University, a campus that has seen a number of violent protests and pro-Palestinian encampments occupy student spaces – incidents that are still unfolding.
Notably, Israel was found not guilty of committing genocide by the International Criminal Court of Justice, despite accusations by pro-Palestinian figures.
In 2021, Omar grouped together the United States and Israel with the Taliban and Hamas, causing controversy within her own party. She later defended the comparison.