Garamendi on Omar Lumping in U.S., Israel with Terror Groups: ‘This Kind of Language Incites Violence’ – Lumping Was Unintentional

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “At This Hour,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) tweet on “unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban” by saying that while he doesn’t think Omar intended to equate the U.S. and Israel to terrorist groups, “this kind of language incites violence here in the United States. We’ve seen too much of that. The Jewish community has been affected by that, and we need to really tamp this down.”

Garamendi said, “I think she needs to be much more careful. I don’t think she ever intended to lump the United States and Israel into the same terrorism that was being conducted by those other — by those terrorist organizations. She ought to walk it back. She ought to be very, very careful here. The problem is that this kind of language incites violence here in the United States. We’ve seen too much of that. The Jewish community has been affected by that, and we need to really tamp this down. We need to be very measured in our conversations here. There’s a lot of emotion in play, understandably so. But be very, very careful, all of us, in all that we say.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett