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.

  • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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    3 hours ago

    They were happy that Hamas killed a thousand Israeli civilians and took hostages.

    I don’t care. They could’ve been dancing in the streets over it. It still doesn’t justify genocide.

    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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      3 hours ago

      Yes it does.

      It’s why the US killed a half million middle eastern people after 9/11

      It’s why people are praising Ukraine for invading Russia back

      It’s why nobody cries about all the dead Nazi’s

      Retaliation is very frequently justified, even when the level of killing amounts to hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

      It’s right there in every single history book you’ve ever read, over and over and over and over.

      • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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        3 hours ago

        It’s why the US killed a half million middle eastern people after 9/11

        Which was wrong.

        It’s why people are praising Ukraine for invading Russia back

        How is this different from what Hamas did on Oct. 7th?

        It’s why nobody cries about all the dead Nazi’s

        The Allies did not commit genocide on the Germans during WWII. The Germans were committing a genocide, and the Allies were stopping them.