The White House condemned statements from lawmakers by the likes of Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO), who have described Israel as “an apartheid state” and called for the end of U.S. funding after Hamas’s deadly terrorist attacks.
“I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend, and we are going to continue to be very clear. We believe they are wrong,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. “We believe they are repugnant, and we believe they are disgraceful.”
ISRAEL WAR: BIDEN FACES HIS LATEST INTERNATIONAL AND POLITICAL CRISIS
“Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped hundreds, hundreds of Israelis,” she said. “There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here. There are not two sides.”
President Joe Biden has made similar comments, according to the press secretary, adding he is “taking action to provide additional support to ensure Israel has what they need to defend themselves.”
In weekend statements, Tlaib, Congress’s first Palestinian woman and one of its first two Muslim women, grieved “the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day” before advocating “dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”
“The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer,” she said. “As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Bush agreed with ending U.S. funding of “Israeli military occupation and apartheid” “as part of achieving a just and lasting peace.”
Biden confirmed Tuesday that 14 Americans were killed in Hamas’s “act of sheer evil” and that Americans were also being held hostage in Gaza. Israel could launch a “complete siege” of Gaza in response.
