Ilhan Omar slams Blinken for failing to achieve Gaza cease-fire deal

WASHINGTON (AA) – Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar on Wednesday blasted Secretary of State Antony Blinken for failing to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.

“Now ask yourselves, how does our Secretary of State travel 11 times begging for an end to a situation that we truly have continued to provide the bombs and the weapons that are creating that situation,” the Minnesota representative told the “Uncommitted” movement’s press conference in Chicago, Illinois, where thousands of delegates gathered for the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

“How do we allow our Secretary of State to go into Israel and say we are close to securing a cease-fire now for the 11th time, to leave for Egypt, only for Bibi Netanyahu to have a press conference right after him and say we are not taking a deal?” she said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“How are we not ashamed that that is the humiliation that our administration’s representatives are faced with?

“It’s not just the hypocrisy of saying we respect international law, but humiliation,” she added.

Omar also criticized the Biden administration for “refusing to recognize the genocidal war” that is taking place in Gaza, adding: “Working tirelessly for a cease-fire is really not a thing, and they should be ashamed of themselves for saying such thing, because we supply these weapons.”

“So if you really want a cease-fire, you just stop sending the weapons,” she added.

Speaking at the same event, Missouri Representative Cori Bush, who lost the Democratic primary to challenger St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, who was backed by pro-Israel lobby groups, called on her Democratic colleagues to uphold their values.

Bush said that over 40,000 men, women and children in Gaza have been killed by “weapons that we the United States have manufactured and paid for.”

“Millions of people starving in this place while facing the continued dropping of bombs that the United States has paid for,” she said.

Blinken ended his ninth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 following stops in Qatar, Egypt and Israel without achieving a breakthrough in the Gaza cease-fire talks.

He said Monday while in Israel that Netanyahu had accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

However, Israeli media reported comments from Netanyahu just hours after Blinken’s remarks saying that “under any circumstances” Israel will not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border or the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into two parts.

The US, Egypt and Qatar announced last week following cease-fire talks in Doha that they had presented Israel and Hamas with what they called a “bridging proposal” to further narrow “remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal.”

Hamas criticized the proposal, claiming it merely aligns with Netanyahu’s conditions, including his refusal of a permanent cease-fire, of a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and his insistence on continuing the occupation of the Netzarim Corridor, the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor.

Israel has killed over 40,170 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.