{"id":2343043,"date":"2024-09-18T17:53:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T21:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-rebukes-kennedy-grilling-of-arab-american-institute-director-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-09-18T17:53:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T21:53:44","slug":"white-house-rebukes-kennedy-grilling-of-arab-american-institute-director-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-rebukes-kennedy-grilling-of-arab-american-institute-director-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"White House rebukes Kennedy grilling of Arab American Institute director &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-house-rebukes-kennedy-grilling-of-arab-american-institute-director-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2343043&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The White House \u200bcriticized Senator \u2063John\u200c Kennedy (R-LA) for his comments during a Senate Judiciary\u200b Committee hearing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-in-nyc-arrested-for-a-string-of-attacks-on-women\/\" title=\"Man in NYC arrested for a string of attacks on women\">hate crimes<\/a>, where he questioned Maya Berry, the director of the \u2063Arab American Institute, about her stance on terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Kennedy reportedly suggested she should &#8220;hide [her] head in a bag,&#8221; implying a lack of condemnation for these groups. Press Secretary Karine\u2064 Jean-Pierre\u2064 labeled his remarks as &#8220;shameful,&#8221; emphasizing the inappropriate nature of questioning someone\u2019s\u200d beliefs based\u2062 solely on their heritage or religion. She underscored the need to combat\u200b hate and discrimination, noting the alarming increase in antisemitic and anti-Arab sentiment.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">White House says Kennedy grilling of Arab American Institute director was &lsquo;shameful&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1763754\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/news\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>White House<\/a> blasted Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-kennedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>John Kennedy <\/a>(R-LA) for asking the director of the Arab American Institute whether she supports terrorist groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hamas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Hamas<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hezbollah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Hezbollah<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>During a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate-judiciary-committee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Senate Judiciary Committee<\/a> hearing on hate crimes earlier this week, Kennedy told Arab American Institute Director Maya Berry she &ldquo;should hide [her] head in a bag&rdquo; after he claimed she had not condemned Hamas and Hezbollah or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Iran<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-nations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>U.N.<\/a> Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Speaking to this specific moment that we saw, that we all witnessed, it was shameful,&rdquo; press secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karine-jean-pierre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Karine Jean-Pierre <\/a>told reporters Wednesday. &ldquo;It was shameful insults and abusive treatment of an Arab American Institute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/just-in-floyd-county-georgia-terminates-election-director-after-statewide-audit-discovers-uncounted-votes\/\" title=\"JUST IN: Floyd County, Georgia Terminates Election Director After Statewide Audit Discovers Uncounted Votes\">executive director<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy&rsquo;s questions served as a reminder of &ldquo;why we need to fight against hate, against discrimination of all kinds,&rdquo; according to Jean-Pierre. She described asking someone whether they were a &ldquo;terrorist sympathizer based upon their heritage or their religion&rdquo; as &ldquo;bigoted, and dangerous, and very wrong.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have seen a troubling rise in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antisemitism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>antisemitic hatred<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antisemitism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>attacks<\/a> since Oct. 7, and you&rsquo;ve seen a distressing rise in hatred and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wapo-defends-reporter-who-got-hate-online-for-asking-murkowski-about-tanden-tweet\/\" title=\"WaPo Defends Reporter Who Got Hate Online For Asking Murkowski About Tanden Tweet\">attacks aimed<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/arabs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Arab<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/muslims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Muslims<\/a>,&rdquo; the press secretary said. &ldquo;It is upon all of us, especially leaders, national leaders in particular in this country, to call that out and to condemn that type of hatred, that type of bigotry. And this is something that we&rsquo;re going to continue to see from the Biden-Harris administration, condemn that type of hateful speech.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, Kennedy also asked Berry whether she was a Democrat before inquiring about Hamas.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Senator, oddly enough, I am going to say thank you for that question because it demonstrates the purpose of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wednesday-election-fraud-hearing-trump-attorney-rudy-giuliani-at-michigan-house-oversight-committee-live-stream-video-at-6-pm\/\" title=\"WEDNESDAY ELECTION FRAUD HEARING: Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani at Michigan House Oversight Committee - LIVE STREAM VIDEO at 6 PM\">hearing today<\/a> in a very effective way,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In response to Kennedy&rsquo;s similar question about Hezbollah, Berry added that his query was &ldquo;extraordinarily disappointing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t support violence, whether it&rsquo;s Hezbollah, Hamas, or any other entity that invokes it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;So, no sir.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1763754\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1763754\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The White House criticized Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) for questioning the director of the Arab American Institute about her alleged support for terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. During a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on hate crimes, Kennedy suggested that Maya Berry, the director, should &#8220;hide [her] head in a bag&#8221; because he believed she had not condemned these groups or Iran and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described his behavior as &#8220;shameful&#8221; during a press briefing on Wednesday, labeling it as insulting and abusive towards an executive director of an Arab American organization. She emphasized that such questions highlight the ongoing need to combat hate and discrimination in all forms. Jean-Pierre characterized asking someone if they are a &#8220;terrorist sympathizer based on their heritage or religion&#8221; as bigoted, dangerous, and wrong. She noted an alarming increase in antisemitic attacks since October 7th alongside rising hostility towards Arabs and Muslims. According to her, it is crucial for national leaders to denounce this kind of hatred and bigotry\u2014a stance that will continue under the Biden-Harris administration.<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, Kennedy also asked Berry about her political affiliation before raising his question regarding Hamas. In response, Berry expressed gratitude for his question as it underscored the purpose of their discussion: \u201cHamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support,\u201d she stated while pointing out how his inquiry highlighted issues of hate in society. When asked similarly about Hezbollah, she found his question &#8220;extraordinarily disappointing,&#8221; affirming her opposition to violence from any group including Hezbollah or Hamas by stating unequivocally: \u201cSo no sir.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":2343044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/karine-jean-pierre-white-house-2-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[41172,5111,32127],"class_list":["post-2343043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arab-american-institute","tag-kennedy","tag-white-house"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/karine-jean-pierre-white-house-2-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2343044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}