Congressional “Squad” member and staunch Palestinian advocate Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was widely denounced this weekend for reposting a picture of children killed in a 2013 Syrian chemical weapons attack with the headline “CHILD GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE.”
Omar’s gruesome and false X post Saturday came after her fellow Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned the public about the “incredibly high” level of “misinformation in all directions” on the platform concerning the Israel-Hamas war.
“If you see a claim, photo, or video that triggers a strong emotional reaction, take a moment to pause and check for veracity/confirmation from multiple sources,” the New York City lawmaker wrote last week in an appeal for caution.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called out both congresswomen by name on X as it shared a screenshot of Omar’s graphic fake news message, which she had since un-reposted amid widespread blowback, as first reported by Mediaite Saturday.
“You mean like this, @AOC?” the AIPAC wrote. “@IlhanMN is spreading dangerous misinformation, blaming Israel for killing kids who were killed by Assad in Syria 10 years ago.”
“Once again, the Squad doesn’t let the facts get in the way of their anti-Israel narrative,” the political action committee said.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW
X had added a community note to the post clarifying that it featured a widely published photo of the aftermath of a sarin gas attack launched by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s civil war in Ghouta 10 years ago.
“This photo is NOT from Gaza/Palestine,” the platform noted. The ghastly attack it depicted had killed “more than 1,400 Syrians, many of them children,” according to the US State Department.
Some 724 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip since Hamas militants unleased a coordinated terror attack targeting civilians across the disputed border on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,300, Defense for Children International said Saturday.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that 2,670 Palestinians in total had been killed and 9,600 wounded since Israel declared war and launched counterattacks on military targets in the northern part of the disputed region, as Israel implored up to 1.1 million civilians to flee to the south to avoid more bloodshed.
Fox News commentator Guy Benson explained on the network’s “The Big Weekend Show” why it was reckless and irresponsible to conflate the atrocities.
“Here’s the sad part. Palestinian children have been killed already. More Palestinian children will be killed in the days to come,” Benson said Sunday.
“Cutting through the fog of war, it is important when we get those reports, verified or otherwise when that happens, is that Israel goes out of its way to avoid that, whereas Hamas goes out of its way to kill innocent people.”
A senior advisor from Omar’s office told The Post Monday she “immediately took down the retweet when she learned it was not from Gaza.”
The false post came after she re-shared content over the weekend accusing Israel of “war crimes” and violating “international humanitarian law” in connection with its evacuation orders, an opinion shared by the United Nations’ leading human rights arm and Amnesty International as the crisis worsened.
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