On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) responded to criticism of his stance on Israel by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) by stating that Omar’s opposition to funding the Iron Dome “would have led to even more dead Israelis and more dead Palestinians” if she had prevailed. He also stated that the humanitarian crisis of the war was started by Hamas killing Israeli civilians.
After viewing a clip of Omar wondering how many Palestinians he’s comfortable with dying, Torres said, “I obviously resent those comments. Every casualty is a tragedy, every war is a humanitarian crisis. But we have to keep in mind the causes of the war. Israel did not start the war. The war was imposed upon Israel by the barbaric terrorism of Hamas, which butchered 1,400 Israelis, including babies. You know, my colleague, Rep. Omar, has voted against Iron Dome, which is a missile defense system that protects Israeli civilians from relentless rocket fire. Were it not for Iron Dome interceptions, there would be far more dead Israelis, far more, by orders of magnitude. And so, the policy position that she has taken would have led to even more dead Israelis and more dead Palestinians.”
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