Over the course of the week, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) had been drawing bipartisan outrage after comparing the United States and Israel to terrorist organizations like the Taliban and Hamas. She accused them of “unthinkable atrocities,” was rebuked by a group of Jewish Democrats, and she was forced to “clarify” her comments Thursday. But ABC and CBS news completely skipped the disgraceful saga altogether.
And although, NBC Nightly News did cover the “firestorm,” they left out some of the strongest parts of the rebuke and seemingly tried to quickly put down Democratic infighting.
Anchor Lester “fairness is overrated” Holt seemed to make a tacit admission that NBC had been sitting on the story all week:
Tonight, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is once again getting sharp reaction to remarks she has made about Israel. Garrett Haake is at the Capitol. Garrett, this time the backlash is from a tweet earlier this week.
“That's right, Lester. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is under fire for this tweet she sent summarizing an exchange with Secretary Blinken on Monday,” Haake added.
And despite reading the offending part of Omar’s tweet out loud, Haake put extra emphasis on the question of whether or not she meant what she wrote:
"We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," she wrote.
That led a dozen Jewish Democrats to blast her seeming comparison of the U.S. and Israel to terrorist groups as, quote, "As offensive as it is misguided" and urging her to clarify. (Emphasis, Haake’s)
But Haake omitted a key part of the rebuke by Jewish Democrats where they called her out for using “false equivalences” to “give cover to terrorist groups.”
Haake also made it seem as though Omar had simply acquiesced to their demands. “After an intense backlash, she did so today,” he suggested, reading a snippet of her response: “I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries.”
In reality, Omar had lashed out in a tweet and accused those Jewish Democrats of being bigots. “The islamophobic (sic) tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable,” she whined.
“Tonight, Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leadership issuing a rare joint statement criticizing Omar for ‘drawing false equivalencies,’ and welcoming her correction, clearly hoping to put this episode behind them,” Haake concluded, trying to put the saga to rest.
In coverage of this issue on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, anchor Bret Baier offered some valuable insight into the liberal media’s coverage of the story. “And I just point out – the media coverage is always something we look at through the prism of where we sit. This just doesn't get covered other places,” he said.
Adding: “In fact, when Democrats talk about the anti-Semitic efforts across the country and things that are happening to Ben's point, former President Obama, Katie, said that that falls at the feet of former President Trump. But, yet, this part, this part where Democrats feel like they have to put out something to clarify doesn't get picked up.”
The willful omission of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s disgraceful comment was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from GEICO on ABC, and Amazon on CBS. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
June 10, 2021
7:11:13 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Tonight, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is once again getting sharp reaction to remarks she has made about Israel. Garrett Haake is at the Capitol. Garrett, this time the backlash is from a tweet earlier this week.
GARRETT HAAKE: That's right, Lester. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is under fire for this tweet she sent summarizing an exchange with Secretary Blinken on Monday. "We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban," she wrote.
That led a dozen Jewish Democrats to blast her seeming comparison of the U.S. and Israel to terrorist groups as, quote, "As offensive as it is misguided" and urging her to clarify.
After an intense backlash, she did so today, writing, "I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries."
Tonight, Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leadership issuing a rare joint statement criticizing Omar for “drawing false equivalencies,” and welcoming her correction, clearly hoping to put this episode behind them. Lester?
HOLT: All right, Garrett, thank you.
