US rights advocates, Democrats condemn lawmaker Randy Fine's comments as racist

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top U.S. House of Representatives Democrats and rights advocates criticized Republican Representative Randy Fine on Wednesday, calling comments he made about Representative Ilhan Omar "racist" and "Islamophobic."

Fine's comments on X were in response to a post Omar made criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's U.S. visit.

KEY QUOTES

"I'm sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists," Fine wrote on X in response to Omar, who is Muslim and a Democrat.

"The unhinged, racist and Islamophobic comments made by Randy Fine about Rep. Ilhan Omar are bigoted and disgusting," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a statement.

Omar welcomed the Democrats' support on X. Fine dismissed their criticism in a subsequent online post, labeling them sympathizers of extremism.

Robert McCaw from the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group labeled Fine as "anti-Muslim" and pointed to past comments from him, saying his remarks should be condemned in a bipartisan manner.

"We are just weeks removed from heinous acts of political violence targeting elected officials in Minnesota for assassination," the Democrats noted. A Democratic state assemblywoman in Minnesota, where Omar is from, was fatally shot along with her husband in mid-June.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Advocates have raised concern about escalatory rhetoric in the U.S. due to political polarization in recent years and more recently due to rising Islamophobia and antisemitism during the Israel-Gaza war.

CONTEXT

Omar's post to which Fine responded cast Netanyahu as a "war criminal." The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in November against the Israeli leader over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu denies the charges.

U.S. ally Israel has faced accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the ICC over its military assault on Gaza. Israel denies the accusations, saying its campaign amounts to self-defense after an October 2023 Hamas attack.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kat Stafford and Stephen Coates)