(JTA) — Kathy Manning, a new congresswoman from North Carolina, said her remembrance of fleeing bombs aimed from the Gaza Strip into Israel helped steel her during the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
“As my heart started to race, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve been through much worse. I’ve had to run to bomb shelters in Sderot with sirens blaring and rockets overhead coming in from Gaza,'” Manning said Monday evening in a virtual chat with the Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella body she chaired a decade ago. Her remarks were first reported by Jewish Insider.
Manning, a Democrat, was one of nine freshmen in Congress to address the virtual mission to Washington.
The insurrection, spurred by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the election, has claimed five lives.
