Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) made an appearance on CNN on Monday where he stated that he will not tolerate the hatred for Jews and Israel from his colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), going further in expressing his stand against Hamas by revealing that he’s “comfortable” with civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip region.
Whew. You know this guy just made a whole lot of enemies on the left. It’s hard to believe these comments came out of a Democrat. Maybe there’s hope for some on the left after all.
The remarks come in light of a recent explosion from Omar last Friday when a reporter confronted her and other far-left House Democrats for demanding that Israel find a way to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. Honestly, that’s just a horrible suggestion. It’s like telling a rape victim not to pursue charges against her attacker.
Torres is a very ardent defender of Israel, a stance which immediately sets him apart from fellow members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He issued a strong and stern rebuke to anyone calling for a ceasefire.
According to The Blaze, Omar told a reporter, “That’s the question you should ask Ritchie: How many more Palestinian lives is he comfortable with?”
During his interview with CNN, Torres responded to Omar by saying that he “resents” the accusation made against him and then promptly reminded the viewing audience of the Minnesota Democrat’s voting record against offering protection to the Jewish country.
“You know, my colleague, Rep. Omar, has voted against Iron Dome, which is a missile defense system that protects Israeli civilians from relentless rocket fire. If it were not for Iron Dome interceptions, there would be far more dead Israelis, far more, by orders of magnitude,” he stated. “And so, the policy position that she has taken would have led to more dead Israelis and more dead Palestinians.”
A Member of Congress falsely accused me of being “happy” about the death of Palestinians. It is the most vicious lie that one can tell about a colleague.
The same colleague voted against Iron Dome, which (a) protects Israeli Jews and Arabs from thousands of rockets and (b)… pic.twitter.com/4FeUelmL6P
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 23, 2023
Torres then goes on to state an important fact, notably, Israel did not start this conflict. Instead the war “was imposed upon Israel by the barbaric terrorism of Hamas. which butchered 1,400 Israelis, including babies.”
During an earlier portion of his appearance on the network, Torres said he was worried that there would be a “concerted campaign to demonize Israel as if it is the root of all evil” from within the progressive movement. I’d say that’s a fair concern given how many people have come out in full support of Hamas, an officially declared terrorist group, with little sympathy for the victims who died at their hands in Israel.
“When you systematically demonize Israel, what inevitably follows is the dehumanization of Israeli victims. What inevitably follows is the Democratic socialist rally that glorifies the terrorism of Hamas,” Torres explained.
“The hatred for Israel has been taken too far,” he proclaimed. “And, you know, hatred is dangerous because it could easily harden into violence.”
At the root of hate is anger. At the root of anger is fear. At the root of fear is a lack of understanding. Jews and Muslims see the world through different lenses, despite the fact they have a lot in common. And no matter how much other nations around the world might attempt to facilitate some sort of peace in the Middle East, that goal will remain impossible until Muslims and Jews can find some sort of common ground.
I don’t know how likely that is when you examine the radical teachings of Islam, which some of the most devout followers of the faith follow. We can also hope and pray for this conflict to end and for peace to reign in that part of the world.
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