Ilhan Omar Warns ‘Genocide’ Could Continue in Gaza, Calls for ‘Arms Embargo’ on Israel Amid Ceasefire With Hamas

US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) expressed skepticism that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold during a newly released interview with anti-Israel pundit Marc Lamont Hill, cautioning that the so-called “genocide” in Gaza could resume due to Israeli misconduct. 

“I think the biggest danger for Palestinians is to have this genocide continue, and so if we have a window for that to end, I think the Palestinians are resilient enough to withstand a lot of things,” Omar said on Hill’s podcast, “Office Hours.”

The congresswoman added she was “surprised” that the Biden administration did not initially pressure Israel to implement a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, claiming that the United States “subsidizes” the Jewish state. Moreover, she expressed astonishment at reports that Trump administration officials pushed their Israeli counterparts into brokering a ceasefire with Hamas. However, Omar claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might undermine the ceasefire in Gaza, causing the war to resume.

Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed to a three-phase deal that halts fighting in Gaza, and if fully implemented, would stop the war entirely. Under the first phase, Hamas is set to release 33 hostages — women, children, and elderly men — over the next six weeks in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, who were largely detained for involvement in terrorist activity. Top officials in the new Trump administration have said in recent weeks that the US will support Israel renewing military operations in Gaza if Hamas launches more attacks against the Jewish state and violates the agreement.

The ceasefire began on Sunday, when Hamas released three female Israeli civilian hostages.

Despite indicating cautious optimism about the ceasefire deal, Omar, one of the most strident critics of Israel in the US Congress, warned that the Trump administration could still worsen the plight of the Palestinians over the next four years. 

“I do believe there is an incredible danger, and the possibility of having the West Bank annexed. There is a possibility of having UNWRA not getting funding from the United States. There is an incredible danger and possibility for there not to be humanitarian aid just in general to the Palestinians,” Omar said. 

Some members of the Trump administration — including Mike Huckabee, who is US President Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel — have publicly professed their belief that the West Bank belongs to the Jewish state. In addition, Huckabee has said that he will officially refer to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria” — terminology preferred by Israel. 

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals. One expected target of Trump’s that has received US finding is UNRWA, the controversial United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israel has also said that UNRWA has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed staff, including teachers and school principals, are active Hamas members who were directly involved in the attack, while many others openly celebrated it.

In contrast to Biden, Omar argued that Trump “understands the amount of leverage we have as a superpower, as a country that does hold the resources that Israel needs in order to continue the war.” She added that Biden administration officials, such as former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, allowed themselves to be “embarrassed” by Netanyahu, claiming that the Israeli premier rebuffed their requests for a ceasefire deal between the Jewish state and the terrorist organization. 

US officials who tried to broker a ceasefire in Gaza for months have repeatedly claimed that Hamas was the chief obstacle to reaching an agreement.

In her interview, Omar urged the Trump administration to apply additional pressure to Israel, suggesting that the White House block arms shipments to the Jewish state. 

“I mean, we obviously are supplying them with the weapons that they are utilizing, and, s,o we can institute an arms embargo, we can certainly make sure that we have a clear red line that is communicated to them,” Omar said.

The Trump administration has not publicly indicated any support for an arms embargo on Israel. According to reporting by Axios, Israeli Ambassador to the US Mike Herzog expects the White House to lift the Biden administration’s restriction on shipments of 2,000-pound bombs. In May 2024, the Biden administration blocked the delivery of such bombs to the Jewish state, citing fear of excessive civilian casualties in densely-populated areas of Gaza. Experts have argued that such bombs are necessary to reach Gaza’s underground tunnel network, which it has used to hide hostages and plan terrorist attacks.

“We believe that Trump is going to release, at the beginning of his term, the munitions that haven’t been released until now by the Biden administration,” Herzog told Axios.

Since being elected to Congress in 2018, Omar has established herself  as a harsh critic of Israel. She has accused the Jewish state of committing “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and erecting an”“apartheid” government in the West Bank. The lawmaker has also publicly declared support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), which seeks to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah as a first step toward its eventual destruction.

Omar was among the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza, falsely arguing that the Jewish state’s military operations “indiscriminately” killed Palestinian civilians.

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