Washington DC - A Senate hearing about hate crimes turned into a prime display of hate as a Republican committee member turned on the only Muslim witness present.

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, faced a series of GOP attacks during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee on hate crimes, which are on the rise amid Israel's ongoing assault on the Palestinian people.

"You support Hamas, don't you? You support UNRWA and Hamas, don't you?" Louisiana Senator John Kennedy accused Berry.

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is working to supply the besieged people of Gaza with food and other humanitarian supplies amid a deadly Israeli blockade and relentless bombardment. The US government cut off additional funding for the agency in January following unverified Israeli government claims that a handful of its employees participated in the October 7 Hamas attack.

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Berry responded, "I think it's exceptionally disappointing that you look at an Arab-American witness before you and say, 'You support Hamas.'"

"I don't support Hamas," Berry said, adding that she was "very clear in her support for UNRWA."

Kennedy repeatedly spoke over the witness before telling her, "You should hide your head in a bag."

Muslim and Arab-American advocacy groups have reported a rise in violent speech and actions in the last 11 months.

Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child, was fatally stabbed 26 times by his landlord in Illinois last October, with law enforcement saying the family had been targeted for being Muslim.

A month later, three college students of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded in Vermont. One of them was left paralyzed from the chest down.

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"It's regrettable that I, as I sit here, have experienced the very issue that we're attempting to deal with today," Berry said later in the hearing.

"This has been regrettably a real disappointment, but very much an indication of the danger to our democratic institutions that we're in now."

"I do hope that my testimony today has been helpful to understanding the need to respond to hate."

Many activists and advocates are now calling on the Senate to censure Kennedy for his Islamophobic treatment of Berry.