'Squad' member Cori Bush stops short of calling Hamas a terrorist group: 'Be careful about labeling'

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Far-left "Squad" member Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., stopped short of calling the terrorist organization Hamas a terrorist organization in a new interview, suggesting she needed to be careful about labeling. 

"Would they qualify to me as a terrorist organization? Yes. But do I know that? Absolutely not," Bush told The New York Times, going on to recount how she claims to have been depicted for leading racial injustice protests in Ferguson, Missouri. "I have no communication with them. All I know is that we were considered terrorists, we were considered Black identity extremists and all we were doing was trying to get peace. I’m not trying to compare us, but that taught me to be careful about labeling if I don’t know."

Bush is fighting for her political life in a competitive primary race against Wesley Bell, who has set himself up as a more moderate pro-Israel alternative to the progressive "Squad" member. Like other "Squad" members, she is a fierce critic of Israel and sympathizer with the Palestinian cause. Hamas perpetrated the horrific Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,100 people in Israel and took hundreds of hostages.

"We were called terrorists during Ferguson," Bush said, referring to the riots in the city after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014. An investigation found the officer, Darren Wilson, acted in self-defense, but the incident jump-started the "Hands up, don't shoot" mantra at the time.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., testifies during the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing titled Birthing While Black: Examining Americas Black Maternal Health Crisis, in Rayburn Building on Thursday, May 6, 2021.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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"Have they hurt people? Absolutely," she said of Hamas. "Has the Israeli military hurt people? Absolutely."

Bush, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., voted against legislation in January that barred members of Hamas from the U.S. 

A spokeswoman for Bush appeared to walk back the lawmaker's comments, according to the Times, saying, "The congresswoman knows Hamas is a terrorist organization." 

Bell, Bush's challenger, has the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), who earlier this year supported George Latimer's successful challenge against Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., another far-left, anti-Israel Democrat.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., speaks to reporters after a House vote on Capitol Hill on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Bowman accused AIPAC of brainwashing voters after he was projected to lose, and argued voters should be outraged. 

"We should be outraged when a super PAC of dark money can spend $20 million to brainwash people into believing something that isn't true. We should be outraged about that," he said in June.

Bush's progressive allies, including Bowman, have rallied around her with Missouri's primary election just one day away. 

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Bush was first elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2022.