House Democrats Blast Progressive Chairwoman For ‘Outrageous’ Comments On Hamas’s Sexual Violence On Oct 7th
The backlash continued against Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) who, on Sunday, made equivocating comments about the condemnation of sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. And it’s not only coming from her own party, it’s coming from the House Progressive Caucus.
During her Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with anchor Dana Bash, Jayapal was asked why there was a hesitation to condemn the reported rapes and sexual violence against women that took place on October 7. But rather than condemn the horrific acts outright, Jayapal kept pivoting to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying “we cannot say that one war crime deserves another” and “we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians.”
It did not take long for critics to jump, but some of the loudest voices against Jayapal’s comments came from House Democrats in the Progressive Caucus that Jayapal chairs. On CNN Max on Monday, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D- MI) got visibly emotional while talking to CNN’s Kasie Hunt about how hard she has worked to prove the veracity of the reports, and was clearly frustrated when the subject of Jayapal was raised:
The very first week of this attack after Hamas, I condemned the raping of women and said that no one could condone it. And Palestinian men went after me, called me a liar, demanded I retracted it. I got doxxed over the subject. I have spent the last seven weeks researching the raping of women that has occurred in the Mid East. It is outrageous. I condemn it.
Women become… Rape is a tool of war. It is violence that should be exercised against no woman, any woman, a Jewish woman, an Arab woman, a white woman, a black woman. And I unequivocally stand against it. And men who deny it and then demand retractions and then keep trying to do it and then try to embarrass you or shame you will not embarrass me or shame me. I will speak up against rape everywhere and anywhere. And as women, we must do so. It is an act of violence against a woman. …
I’m going to talk to Pramila, I have a call in to her. I think… I’m going to just speak for myself on this subject, and I’m raw on this subject because of the hate that I have had directed at me for speaking the truth. I will speak the truth. And I don’t care who it is. Rape is an act of violence and it becomes too often a tool in any act of war.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) called Jayapal’s comments “outrageous” on Twitter/X on Sunday:
Hamas terrorists raped Israeli women and girls. The only ‘balanced’ approach is to condemn sexual violence loudly, forcefully and without exceptions. Outrageous for anyone to “both sides” sexual violence. https://t.co/dH6q0ksYqR
— Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@RepDWStweets) December 4, 2023
Bash had Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) on Monday’s Inside Politics to ask about why there was hesitancy to condemn the rapes committed by Hamas:
Bash: Why do you think it’s difficult for some members of your party to unequivocally call out the barbaric sexual violence against Israeli women?
Torres: Look, there’s often been a double standard against Israel when it comes to condemning the sheer butchery and barbarism of Hamas. Public officials have a moral obligation to speak with clarity rather than caveats. And I found it deeply troubling, for example, that the UN Women, the so-called women’s rights arm of the United Nations, went 50 days without commenting on or condemning the sexual atrocities that Hamas perpetrated against Israeli women. For me, this is not about politics. This is about decency. It is indecent to deny or downplay or “both sides” the rape and sexual violence against Israeli women on October 7th.
But when it came to the caucus being divided, Torres pushed back, insisting that while there was a “fringe” faction of House Democrats who used inflammatory language to describe Israel’s retaliation for October 7th, they didn’t not represent Democrats or progressives:
[T]he word “division” gives the impression that it’s evenly split. I mean, almost every member of the Democratic caucus has been unequivocal in condemning the sheer savagery of Hamas. There is a fringe that uses provocative language, dishonest language, like “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide,” but that is fundamentally unrepresentative of the mainstream of not only the Democratic caucus, but also the Progressive caucus.
Watch the videos above via CNN Max and CNN.
