🔰GOP lawmaker disputes Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments on Israel-Iran

Back after attacking the U.S., claiming it's worse than the dictatorship she grew up under, far-left Democrat Ilhan Omar now claims Iran has not attacked Americans. She responded to President Trump on Twitter saying, quote, no one is attacking or has attacked Americans. It's time to stop dragging Americans into war and letting Israel once again getting America involved in their chosen war. But is the congressman forgetting the Pentagon says Iran killed nearly 900 U.S. service members and Americans since 1983, including three U.S. service members killed in an Iran drone attack in Jordan just in January 2024. Let's welcome back to the show Congressman Byron Donalds from House Oversight Florida gubernatorial candidate. What do you make of all of this, Congressman? First of all, Ilhan is wrong. Obviously, the State Department corrected the record. We know that Iran, through their proxies, have dulled out death to Americans. We also know that there is no way that Hamas would have attacked Israel, in which, yes, there were Americans who were either killed or taken hostage, without Iran approving that attack. That's just a fact. And so, for my colleague to make a statement like that is just completely ignorant. And so, look, at this point, Israel is the one that is carrying out these airstrikes against Iran. A nuclear Iran is something the entire region does not want to see. Obviously, Israel doesn't want to see that, but many other countries in that region don't want to see it as well. And so, to make these kind of statements, to me, is just pure ignorance. And frankly, it defiles the members of our country who have been killed by Iranian proxies or by direct Iranian attacks over the years. You know, in 2022, surviving family members and victims from Iran's attacks won a case against Iran, holding the regime accountable because of its support for terror actors who killed or injured 30 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. We should point out more than 7,050 U.S. service members have died since 9-11 in war zones in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in the Middle East, many of them at the hands of Iran. Let's get your reaction to this. Let's go to the co-hosts of ABC's The View, basically attacking what Israel is trying to do in its fight for survival. Watch this. Well, that's what I think is very problematic, because what people aren't talking about is that Israel preemptively struck Iran. And so, I think the conversation would be very different if another country preemptively sent missiles to this country, right? No one would be saying, you know, this is fine with- Sure. Because I think that the Iranians and the Israelis believe that Iran would like to completely destroy Israel. They call for the destruction of Israel. They call for an actual existential threat to Israel. But that does not- So they're doing, so they're saying, if you're trying to kill us, we want a nuclear bomb. We don't want you to have a nuke. That is fine. But you have to do that legally and under international law. Well, Iran's launched tons of missiles against Israel in the last few years. You're not supposed to do this. OK. Your reaction to that, Congressman? I mean, look, first of all, I would say, at least at some point, there was some semblance of reality on The View. The truth is that Hamas- Iran backed Hamas. They backed Hezbollah. Hamas would not have attacked the Israelis without Iranian approval. That is a fact. Number two, the Iranian regime has called for the complete death of Israel. They've called for it multiple times. So at some point, are you going to believe your enemies and what their true intents are? A nuclear Iran is not in the interest of Israel. It's not in the interest of the region. And I would add, it's not in the interest of the United States. So at this point, for Israel to take action, what other choice did they have? Were they really going to sit there and watch the Iranians get nuclear weapons with ballistic missile capabilities and then sit back and do what? Negotiate the table year after year after year, basically at the butt of the gun? Israel wasn't going to do that. They've been warning about this for years. This is not something new. And so once it became clear that Iran was close to actually having nuclear weapons, then they decided to act. And let me also bring this other argument up, because it's one that's happening in the United States. This is very different from the WMD conversation with Iraq back in the early 2000s. There was skepticism about WMDs in Iraq. We could always go back down that history. There is no dispute about the Iranians trying to get a nuclear weapons system. No dispute whatsoever. Congressman Byron Donalds, always a pleasure and wonderful to have you back on the show. It's great to see you again. Thanks for joining us. Now, listen to this. Thank you.