by WorldTribune Staff, May 6, 2019
The more than 20 Democratic Party candidates for the 2020 presidential nomination remained mostly silent as hundreds of rockets were launched at Israel over the weekend.
Meanwhile, while omitting the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorism part, U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar issued tweets blasting Israel amid some 700 rockets being fired at the Jewish State from the Gaza Strip.
The silence of the Democrats was first flagged by retired New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who has been a fierce critic of his party’s anti-Israel drift in recent years. He tweeted: “After more than FIVE HUNDRED rockets were fired by Hamas terrorists at Israel, KILLING 4, not a single Democratic candidate for president has issued a statement or said a word on it. Shame on @thedemocrats!”
Breitbart News reported that it reviewed the Twitter feeds of every Democratic presidential candidate and found no comments about the situation in Gaza and Israel.
However, more than half a dozen did tweet Ramadan wishes at the start of the annual Muslim holy month.
Responding to a New York Times report headlined “Gaza Militants Fire 250 Rockets, and Israel Responds With Airstrikes”, Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, tweeted: “When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free? Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families. #FreePalestine”
Omar, Minnesota Democrat, tweeted on May 5: “How many more protesters must be shot, rockets must be fired, and little kids must be killed until the endless cycle of violence ends? The status quo of occupation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is unsustainable. Only real justice can bring about security and lasting peace.”
Breitbart ‘s Joel B. Pollak countered that “Among Omar’s many dubious claims in a single tweet, one false claim stands out: namely, that Gaza faces a ‘status quo of occupation.’ In 2005, Israel unilaterally removed every Israeli soldier and civilian from Gaza, ending any possible ‘occupation’ of the territory — against much domestic political opposition within Israel itself. The hope was that Palestinians would use the withdrawal as an opportunity to invest in Gaza’s economy and work towards peace.
“Instead, Hamas — which took over Gaza in a 2007 coup against the Palestinian Authority government — turned Gaza into a terrorist launchpad, using civilian areas in the territory to launch rockets at Israeli cities, and digging tunnels to infiltrate into Israeli territory and kidnap Israeli soldiers.”
Tlaib retweeted a post from Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, which said of the New York Times article: “This is a stunningly irresponsible and misleading headline. Israel shot dozens of unarmed Palestinian protestors in Gaza on Friday and killed 4 Palestinians, including two protesters, in Gaza before any projectiles were launched.”
RedState noted that “Israel did not randomly shoot unarmed people in the Gaza strip on Friday.”
Pollak noted the same: “The ‘protesters’ … were shot at because they were trying to breach the border fence and were using incendiary devices, among other weapons.”
RedState said of Tlaibn: “It’s eye-opening to see someone who claims to represent America and its values defend people that are purposely targeting Jewish civilians in Israel. There’s also a fair bit of irony given the anti-Semitic ‘dual loyalty’ smears she and Ilhan Omar have trafficked in. These two women consistently show their loyalty lies with awful regimes, whether it be Omar defending Maduro and Iran or Tlaib defending Hamas. Enough pretending they are anything but anti-American in their worldview at this point.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration pledged their full support for Israel’s strikes in self-defense.
Trump tweeted: “Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens….
“….To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!”
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Reps. Tlaib, Omar hit Israel from D.C. in wake of rocket attacks from Gaza added by World Tribune on
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