Ilhan Omar Refuses to Condemn Al-Qaeda: ‘I Will Not Dignify It with an Answer’

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said on Monday that Muslims shouldn’t be asked to “condemn terrorists”

In defense of his tweets over the weekend about a group of freshman lawmakers, President Trump criticized Omar specifically on Monday.

“I look at Omar, I don’t know, I’ve never met her. I hear the way she’s talked about al-Qaida. Al-Qaida has killed many Americans, she said you could ‘hold your chest out,’” Trump said at the White House after a Made in America Product Showcase. “When she talked about the World Trade Center being knocked down, ‘some people,’ you remember, the famous ‘some people.’ These are people who in my opinion hate our country.”

Omar was asked for her response to Trump saying she was pro-Al-Qaeda.

“When he made the comment, I know that every single Muslim who has lived in this country and across the world has heard that comment,” she said. “So I will not dignify it with an answer because I know that every single Islamophobe, every single person who is hateful, who is driven by an ideology of othering, as this president is, rejoices in us responding to that, and as defending ourselves.”

Omar said she doesn’t expect white Americans to condemn white people who commit crimes such as mass shootings.

“So I think it’s beyond time, it’s beyond time to ask Muslims to condemn terrorists. We are no longer going to allow the dignification of such a ridiculous, ridiculous statement,” she said.

Last month, Omar declined to address a report that found the highest level of terrorist group recruitment has taken place in her congressional district.