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.
You vote… great. You realize there’s more options than just voting right?
Am I personally making an effort to stop every bad thing my Canadian government is doing? I’m not sure, I don’t see any bad things they’re doing at the moment (including supporting Israel) despite the government being made up of people that I didn’t even vote for.
I don’t see a lot of things that they do as bad, I understand in that most of the things people get mad at them for aren’t really their fault (inflation), are necessary even though they upset a lot of people (immigration), are simply due to the limits of finite resources (healthcare), or are limits based on how our electoral system works and who’s voting (house inflation).
Do I encourage them to do better? Yes. I vote (lol) but I also regularly communicate with my provincial and federal representatives, and I participate in various activities to influence and affect the policies they implement.