The View co-hosts scold Squad members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib for their response to Israel terror attacks: ‘Shame on those congresswomen’
Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar should be ashamed of themselves for rushing to blame Israel for the Gaza hospital attack, The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said Wednesday.
The pair — the first female Muslims elected to Congress, and two of only three Muslims in Congress — both seized on reports of the Gaza attack and said Israel was to blame. The Pentagon analyzed the explosion and concluded that it was a Palestinian-launched rocket intended for Israel that misfired and hit the hospital.
Griffin said Tlaib and Omar helped convince the leaders of Palestine, Jordan and Egypt to cancel their meeting with Biden, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in the Jordanian capital Amman.
“I want to shame Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar for playing a role in the collapse of this agreement with the Arab nations he (President Biden) was supposed to meet with,” Griffin said.
Alyssa Farah Griffin appears on The View on Wednesday and criticizes Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib
Rashida Tlaib (seen left, during a demonstration on Wednesday calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas) and Ilhan Omar (right) both blamed Israel for the Gaza hospital attack
Tlaib, whose parents were born in Palestine, broke down in tears at a rally in DC on Wednesday
“We now know that this hospital attack occurred. Biden said he is confident it was not the Israelis who did this.
“It was probably Islamic Jihad and that’s because the intelligence and images from the US Department of Defense were analyzed.”
As Israel bombed Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion, initial reports of the al-Ahli hospital explosion cited Gaza officials as claiming Israel was behind it.
The claims sparked protests around the world, with the Israeli embassy in Jordan being the scene of clashes and the US embassy in Beirut partially set on fire. The embassies of Britain and France – allies of the US and Israel – were the scene of protests in Tehran.
Griffin said Tlaib and Omar were partly to blame because they refused to retract their statements blaming Israel.
“What happened is people like you said, people got angry and outraged,” Griffin said.
“People took to the streets in the middle of the night to protest and it turns out that was very, very probably not true and shame on those congresswomen for not walking back the wrong statements that they made.”
Griffin will appear on The View on Wednesday
Omar, who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the US as a refugee, responded to an Associated Press tweet headlined: ‘BREAKING: Gaza Health Ministry says at least 500 people killed in explosion at hospital it says was caused by an explosion. Israeli airstrike.”
Omar retweeted the message, repeating Gaza’s claim that it was an Israeli attack.
‘The bombing of a hospital is one of the most serious war crimes. Reportedly, the IDF blowing up one of the few places where the wounded and injured during war can receive medical treatment and shelter is abhorrent,” she tweeted.
“@POTUS must insist on an immediate ceasefire to end this carnage.”
Tlaib, whose parents immigrated to the US from Palestinian territory, went even further.
She tweeted: ‘Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital, killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients).
“@POTUS, this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire and help de-escalate.
“Your approach to war and destruction has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me. We will remember where you stood.”
Both Omar and Tlaib have refused to delete their tweets, despite the Pentagon now concluding that the explosion was caused by the failure of a Palestinian-launched missile.
Tlaib even doubled down on her tweet, pointing out that the Israeli military is known to have lied in the past — most notably by claiming that journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot in the head by the IDF in May 2022, was killed by Palestinians militants. .
Gaza City’s al-Ahli hospital is seen on Wednesday after the strike, which killed an estimated 470 people
People inspect the area of Al-Ahli Hospital where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in an explosion that Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other
The destruction provoked anger in the Arab streets. Biden said he could ‘understand’ the outrage, but said Wednesday he thought the ‘other team’ was responsible
Biden said he analyzed that an errant rocket from Gaza was likely to blame
“Breaking News: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has lied to the public before,” she tweeted, with a link to an Israeli newspaper that fact-checked Netanyahu.
Tlaib and Omar were previously criticized by Griffin and her co-host, Joy Behar.
Griffin said: “Joe Biden did a good job, that was a very strong moment for the American president, but I hope members of the Squad have joined in.”
“Yesterday, Rashida Tlaib was asked to condemn the slaughter of children, she refused to answer the question, she refused to condemn it.”
Behar said their response to the October 7 Hamas attacks was “unpleasant.”