GOP senator tells Arab American community leader she ‘should hide her head in a bag’

Republican US Senator John Kennedy tells an Arab American community leader that she “should hide [her] head in a bag” during her testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on rising hate crimes in the United States.

Kennedy begins his questioning of Arab American Institute executive director Maya Berry by declaring: “You support Hamas, do you not?”

Visibly taken aback by the question, Berry responds: “Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support, but you asking the executive director of the Arab American institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country.”

Unmoved, the Republican senator proceeds to ask Berry: “You support Hezbollah, don’t you?”

Berry responds that she opposes any organization that uses violence, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and laments the “extraordinarily disappointing” line of questioning that Arab and Muslim Americans face.

Ostensibly unconvinced by her answers, Kennedy declares: “You can’t bring yourself to say you don’t support UNRWA, you don’t support Hamas, you don’t support Hezbollah and you don’t support Iran. You should hide your head in a bag.”

.@SenJohnKennedy: You support Hamas, do you not?@AAIUSA's Maya Berry: Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support…You asking the executive director of the Arab American Institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country? pic.twitter.com/h7WU3ePLOu

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 17, 2024