GOP senator tells Arab American witness at hate crimes hearing to 'hide your head in a bag'
GOP senator tells Arab American witness at hate crimes hearing to 'hide your head in a bag'
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana also repeatedly suggested the witness, a leading Arab American activist, supports Hamas even as she repeatedly denied it.
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.
This is one of the dumbest motherfuckers that I have ever had the displeasure of hearing speak. Every single time I've seen this moron speak, I've walked away stupider.
It is absolutely shocking to me that this man graduated high school, let alone college or fucking law school.
Mind boggling.
Just seeing his photograph in the thumbnail, I can hear his stupid fucking voice...
Headline: Old White Man blames racism on non-White People for existing.
Gotta love how he completely ignores her answers and asks follow up questions that imply she said the opposite of what she actually said. And how he repeatedly criticizes her for unequivocally stating her position in complete sentences instead of just saying yes or no, which would be less clear and easier to take out of context.
"You know what's disappointing to me? You can't bring yourself to say don't support UNWRA, you don't support Hamas, you don't support Hezbollah and you don't support Iran. You should hide your head in a bag," he concluded, to gasps and yells from the audience.
What an asshole.
Asked by Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., whether she had anything she wanted to say after the Kennedy exchange, Berry said, "It's regrettable that I, as I sit here, have experienced the very issue that we're attempting to deal with today.
You go, lady. You're a badass.
"I don't support violence, whether it's Hezbollah or Hamas or any other entity that invokes it, so no, sir," she said.
"You just can't bring yourself to say no, can you?" Kennedy said. "You just can't do it."Like wtf? How dumb is this guy that he doesn't understand when someone is saying no?
I guess he doesn't like being called out as a racist (by implying that all Arabs are Hamas plants or something).
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A) Fuck this racist piece of shit.
B) Anyone who says they support Palestinians but not Hamas are intentionally being ignorant, since the vast majority of the Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas and their attack(s) on Israel based on decently reputable local polling (not sourced by Israel)
People need to take their head out of the sand and realize that this isn't just an Israeli invasion, it's a war that both sides want to keep fighting. It's just a stupid war since Palestine is significantly weaker and getting their ass handed to them. The only reason Hamas is even still able to keep fighting is they're being heavily funded with money and weapons from outside countries that want to weaken Israel. Gaza is dirt poor, they have no militarily exploitable resources or weapons production ability.