Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., repeatedly suggested a leading Arab American activist is a Hamas supporter when she testified Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes, and he told her she should hide her “head in a bag.”
The activist, Maya Berry, said repeatedly that she did not support Hamas and was “disappointed” by the minuteslong exchange toward the end of a hearing called “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America.”
“You are the executive director of the Arab American Institute, are you not?” Kennedy said at the beginning of the exchange. She said she was and agreed with Kennedy that she is a Democratic activist.
“You support Hamas, do you not?” Kennedy asked, referring to the militant group behind the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. The question prompted gasps and surprised laughs from the audience.
“Senator, oddly enough, I’m going to say thank you for that question, because it demonstrates the purpose of our hearing today in a very effective way,” Berry responded. Kennedy then cut her off and insisted he needed a yes-or-no answer.
My support for Palestinians isn’t automatic support for everything they support. I don’t give a shit if the majority support Hamas in some way, even if I strongly disagree with that support.
But that disagreement doesn’t mean I’m going to stand back and watch these people get wiped out in a coordinated act of genocide. I can disagree with a culture’s values without being complacent as members of that culture are mass-murdered.
There are a fringe minority here who want to see the roles reversed and a genocide committed against the Israeli people, but those people are psychopaths, and they are outnumbered. Most of us just want to see a stop to mass civilian casualties, and you can’t both-sides that issue right now because, even including the Oct. 7 attack a year ago, Palestinians are suffering orders of magnitude more than Israelis right now.
Also, You’re a J.D. Vance Supporter…
First off, I’m not even American so I don’t support Vance or any other American politician.
Secondly, you support the American government, which killed around half a million middle eastern civilians in retaliation for 9/11.
Thirdly, if Israel was trying to wipe out Palestinians they’re doing an absolute shit job of it. They’re barely killing them faster than the birth rate and it would take centuries to wipe them out at the current rate.
Finally, no you can’t say you support Palestinians and ignore what they stand for. You either don’t actually support Palestinians, or you support their war. Say you support not killing instead, and drop the Palestinian conditional.
“You support the American government”
What a brain dead thing to say. Yeah, we do, because we live here and have to pay taxes. We only have so many things we can do as normal citizens, only so many people we can vote for. Seeing you say all these bad faith statements constantly makes you look like a troll.
Also, you don’t have to live in America to support JD Vance. Plenty of non Americans support Harris or Trump, wtf are you on about?
“it’s not my fault my country killed a half million civilians, I can’t do anything about it.” -You
“I demand my government force another country to stop killing civilians immediately” -Also you
You seriously don’t see the problem with the way you’re thinking?
Why the fuck would I support American political candidates as a non-American? Just because plenty of people are stupid, doesn’t mean I need to be as well. Plenty of people think that most Palestinian civilians are innocent, but it doesn’t make it true.
And what exactly can I do to stop it aside from vote? You act like you have all the answers so please tell me what the average low income American can do to stop a war half way across the world. I’ll wait for the how to guide.
Never said I demand anything, I said I vote. You seem to make it a habit of putting words in peoples mouths to fit your agenda. You own a farm? Because you’re building straw men like crazy lol.
I dunno, it is a very odd thing for you to do. It’s also very odd to tell citizens of another country how to behave and interact with their government. What country praytell are you living in? Are you personally making an effort to stop every bad thing their doing or do you just embrace your hypocrisy full force? Oh no, I bet you’re a “wait till people start dying to care” kinda guy.