Unlike Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who went on an unhinged rant, doubling down on her Jewish blood libel on Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar is backtracking on her initial claims that Israel "bombed" a Gaza hospital. In a Wednesday evening social media thread, the Democrat congresswoman attempted to shift blame for her original accusation, and in doing so, she committed a massive self-awareness failure. 

Omar's post on Tuesday accusing Israel of killing 500 people in a targeted strike on a hospital has since been hit with multiple community notes citing the myriad of evidence that a Hamas rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad malfunctioned and fell short. The number of dead that was reported also came from the Gaza Health Ministry, an arm of Hamas, and there is every reason to believe it is insanely inflated for propaganda reasons. 

Here is Omar's update. 

Our office cited an AP report yesterday that the IDF had hit a Baptist hospital in Gaza. Since then, the IDF denied responsibility and the US intelligence assessment is that this was not done by Israel.

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 19, 2023

It is true that the Associated Press was grossly irresponsible in rushing to report claims literally only sourced to Hamas, a designated terror group. It is also true that Omar's quick trigger in this instance exposes her true motivations. 

Recall that when over 1,400 people were slaughtered by Hamas in Israel on October 7th, it took three days for Omar to put out a statement, and when she did, it was to demand a ceasefire regarding any retaliation. Yet, within minutes of Hamas claiming Israel had bombed a hospital, Omar was ready to go with a denunciation. What does that tell you? 

She continued with this.

It is critical that we have a fully independent investigation to determine conclusively who is responsible for this war crime. https://t.co/8d7E3cLtk3

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 19, 2023

You see, when it was Israel that she was blaming, Omar was more than willing to jump to conclusions based on completely unreliable sourcing. Now that it's clear it was actually the Palestinians who killed their own people because of a failed attempt to slaughter more Israelis, she's all about caution and "fully independent" investigations. 

Keep in mind that not only do we have multiple videos of the PIJ rocket firing and falling short, hitting the hospital, but we also have a cell phone intercept of the terrorists admitting to the incident. Further, there are pictures from the scene proving there was essentially no impact crater (i.e., it wasn't a bombing) and that the damage was mostly caused by burning rocket fuel in the parking lot. The hospital itself was undamaged (aside from a broken window), and given the relatively small area that was impacted, it is improbable that the death toll was actually in the hundreds, as claimed. 

Put all of that together, and the framing that this is some he-said, she-said situation where we simply don't know the truth is farcical. Omar's sudden caution is based on the protection of her ideology, not data. She got caught spreading disinformation, and she wants to backtrack into opaqueness.

Yes, the news outlets that used Hamas as a source are culpable, but congressional members have a duty to vet media reports before repeating them. Omar knows that the Gaza Health Ministry is a wing of Hamas that routinely lies. She has a responsibility to reject claims singularly sourced to such an odious entity. That she'd now pretend to be measured, attacking others for jumping to conclusions, shows a profound lack of self-awareness.