PLO criticizes US lawmaker over hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Palestine Liberation Organization is criticizing Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in an unusual and strongly worded statement about a Senate hearing he ran on Palestinian and Iranian terrorism.

In a statement Thursday, the PLO called the hearing "biased and inflammatory."

The PLO said the Judiciary subcommittee hearing provided no Palestinian viewpoint and conflated all Palestinians with terrorists. It expressed alarm at what it said was a growing trend in the United States to dehumanize Palestinians.

Cruz oversaw the Wednesday hearing in which several public witnesses described acts of violence and complained about the Obama administration.

Cruz, the first-term senator from Texas, opened the hearing with a vivid description of a Palestinian suicide bomber attack on a Jerusalem street several years ago that killed and injured men, women and children.