Kennedy’s remarks were heavily criticized by rights and advocacy groups.

The Council on American-Relations (CAIR) issued a statement condemning the treatment of Berry by Kennedy and others.

“Maya Berry went before the committee to discuss hate crimes. Both Ms. Berry and the topic should have been treated with the respect and seriousness they deserve,” CAIR’s government affairs director Robert McCaw said. “Instead, Senator Kennedy and others chose to be an example of the bigotry Arabs, Palestinians and Muslims have faced in recent months and years.”

Sheila Katz, the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, called the treatment of Berry “heartbreaking.”

The “only Muslim witness faced biased questions about supporting Hamas & Hezbollah despite her clear condemnations,” Katz wrote on X. “This hearing should combat hate, not perpetuate it. The Senate must do better.”

Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the group condemned the “discriminatory and vitriolic attack” on Berry.

“To use a hearing about the disturbing rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and antisemitic hate crimes to launch personal and discriminatory attacks on an expert witness they’ve invited to testify is both outrageous and inappropriate,” he said. “This kind of racist rhetoric should be widely condemned. It has no place in Congress, or in politics.”

Some called for Kennedy to face censure.

“Arab, Muslim, Jewish and civil rights groups across the board have condemned @SenJohnKennedy’s flagrantly racist and defamatory attack on a hearing witness yesterday,” Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote on X.

“If he does not apologize today, he should face immediate censure by his colleagues for his disgraceful behavior.”

Medea Benjamin, an activist and co-founder of human rights organization Code Pink, wrote that the hearing was “a disgrace. Instead of addressing anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestine hate, senators like John Kennedy used it to spew hate. He bullied witness Maya Berry and told her to put her head ‘in a bag.’ We demand accountability! The Senate must censure Senator Kennedy for this blatant display of Islamophobia!”

Journalist Mehdi Hasan suggested there would be a bigger outcry if a Democratic senator had made similar remarks to a Jewish leader.

“Imagine, just imagine, if a left-wing Dem senator had asked a Jewish leader testifying about antisemitism if they supported genocide, & then told them to put their head in a bag,” he wrote. “It would be a huge scandal. But it was a Republican & the person was Muslim.”