Liberal Democrat Ritchie Torres targeted two members of the group for expressing support for terrorists amid the deadliest attacks against Israel in history.
The South Bronx congressman called Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib’s comments “reprehensible and disgusting.”
On Monday, Israeli troops were still fighting to recapture their own cities from Hamas gunmen. They acknowledged that the battle lasted longer than expected, more than two days after the militants stormed over the fence from the Gaza Strip in a deadly rampage.
Fighting was still raging in seven or eight locations in Israel captured by the militants, killing 700 Israelis and taking dozens hostage.
In a statement, Rep. Tlaib called Israel an “apartheid government” responsible for the “suffering” that caused the attacks. In the same statement, Tlaib referred to Hamas as the “resistance.” Both representatives called on the Biden administration to end support for Israel.
“I mourn for the Palestinians and Israelis who lost their lives yesterday, today and every day.” “I remain committed to fighting for a just future in which everyone lives in peace, without fear and in true freedom, can live with equal rights and human dignity.”
Liberal Congressman Ritchie Torres has called his Democratic colleagues’ expressions of support for Hamas “reprehensible.”
In a statement, Rep. Rashida Tlaib called Israel an “apartheid government” that was responsible for the “suffering” that caused the attacks. This was followed by a similar statement from Rep. Cori Bush
“The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation and dismantling the apartheid system that creates oppressive, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance,” Tlaib said in her statement.
Rep. Cori Bush later released a similar statement.
Meanwhile, Rep. Torres hit a different nerve than his fellow liberals in a statement to Jewish Insider. “US assistance to Israel is and should be unconditional and never more so than in this moment of critical need.” Congress must act decisively to provide Israel with everything it needs to defend itself in the face of unprecedented terrorism. “
“Shame on anyone who glorifies the largest one-day mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust as ‘resistance.’ It is reprehensible and disgusting.”
Torres, 35, was elected to represent New York’s 15th Congressional District in 2020. In 2019, he called himself “the embodiment of a pro-Israel progressive.”
In other news on X, Torres criticized the media for appearing to normalize Hamas’ actions.
“If you murder, wound, rape and kidnap civilians and children like Hamas has done, you are not a militant.” You are a terrorist. The media should stop disinfecting terrorists as “militants,” he wrote on Saturday.
“Hamas’ surprise terrorist attack by air, land and sea is Israel’s 9/11.” “The loss of 600 Israelis is equivalent to the loss of about 20,000 Americans,” he wrote the following day.
In other news on X, Torres criticized the media for appearing to normalize Hamas’ actions
Torres was also critical of New York’s Democratic Socialists of America’s protest in Times Square on Sunday.
“The DSA held a hate rally and chanted, ‘From the river to the sea,’ which is code for wiping Israel from the face of the earth.” Let that sink in. The DSA calls for the destruction of the Jewish state amid the largest one-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
“When it comes to the slaughter and kidnapping of Israeli civilians and children, the DSA leadership has no shame. No sense of proper behaviour. No humanity. Just hate. I have been warning for years about the deeply rotten anti-Semitism at the core of the DSA and its supporters. “It can no longer be denied,” he added.
Earlier this weekend, his troop colleague Ilhan Omar made a shocking call for international protection and support for the Palestinians after their fundamentalist terror group Hamas carried out a brutal terrorist attack on Israel.
The progressive Minnesota congresswoman expressed her compassion for the people of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza while criticizing her and her colleagues’ response to the violence.
“As a reminder, Gaza has neither shelters nor an iron dome. Please pray for her,” Omar wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “May peace prevail in the region and move us toward a moral awakening to address the human suffering we see.”
“Palestinians are people who have been under siege and deserve the protection of the international community,” she added.
Lawmaker Ilhan Omar called for “international” protection in Gaza after the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched surprise multi-front attacks in Israel on Saturday
Omar (right) was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. She was joined by Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib (pictured left), who has been conspicuously silent about the recent terrorist attacks
The shocking images of the bodies of hundreds of Israeli civilians lying on city streets, shot at an open-air disco and kidnapped from their homes were unlike anything seen before in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel responded with its heaviest-ever bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 400 people, and may be considering an unprecedented ground attack on the territory it abandoned nearly two decades ago. First, it must reestablish control over its own territory.
Warplanes, helicopters and artillery attacked more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centers and the residence of a senior Hamas official, Ruhi Mashtaa.
“The price the Gaza Strip will pay will be very high and will change the reality for generations,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in Ofakim, one of the towns reeling after a battle with Hamas militants who stormed through them, killing people , eventually recaptured civilians and leaving with hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to attack Hamas, which controls the narrow Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, could be limited by concerns about the many Israelis captured in the crackdown. A full-scale invasion of Gaza, which Netanyahu has avoided during his long years in power, could endanger the lives of the hostages.
In a statement, the Israeli Air Force said it had dropped around 2,000 munitions and more than 1,000 ton bombs on Gaza in the last 20 hours, targeting over 8,000 targets in Gaza. The targets included three rocket launchers aimed at Israel, a mosque where militants operated and 21 high-rise buildings used for militant activity.
Since Saturday, at least 436 people have been killed, including 91 children and 61 women, and more than 2,270 people have been injured, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
“The military attacks and bombings of women’s and children’s homes, mosques and schools in Gaza by the Zionist enemy constitute war crimes and terrorism,” Hamas official Izzat Reshiq said in a statement.