Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized a CNN analyst for referring to her fellow member of the “squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as a “public relations agent for Hamas” on Wednesday.
“How is this kind of obvious Islamophobia so easily accepted without opposition? This is surprising,” Ocasio-Cortez stated Thursday in a post on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
Her post was in response to a clip of Republican strategist Scott Jennings on CNN’s “NewsNight” in which he said he is “surprised, that in the year of our Lord 2024, there is a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in the United States Congress,” in response to an earlier interview with Omar.
Other members of the “squad” also criticized Jennings for his comments, which Omar retweeted.
“Scott Jennings’ comments are reminiscent of the anti-Muslim bigotry we saw in the George Bush post-9/11 era,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) stated in a post on X. “It is disgusting and must not be normalized. CNN should denounce this hateful, dangerous and blatant Islamophobia immediately.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley said, “Obvious Islamophobia has no place in our society — let alone on primetime TV.”
“It’s dangerous, unacceptable, and cannot be normalized,” she said on X.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) referred to Jennings’s comments as “disgustingly racist and Islamophobic” and stated comments similar to the ones he made “are extremely dangerous and fuel anti-muslim hate crimes.”
“CNN should never have him on again!” Bowman continued.
Jennings’s comments followed an interview with Omar in which she said it was her understanding that Israel didn’t show up to negotiations in Egypt for a cease-fire.
“It was Israel that refused to send negotiators to be at the table to carve out — you have to remember that a cease-fire is not something that happens magically,” Omar said.
The Hill has reached out to CNN, Omar’s office and Jennings.
