Democratic Rep. Cori Bush praises BLM activist who called for death of cops and popularized the 'Fry 'em like bacon' chant

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush from Missouri delivered a speech on the House floor, where she lauded an infamous Black Lives Matter activist who called for the death of police officers. With the Israel-Gaza conflict making headlines this week, Bush sang the praises of Bassem Masri, a Palestinian-American Black Lives Matter activist who became well-known because of his vitriolic, at times threatening, rhetoric toward cops.

On Thursday, Bush compared the "militarized occupation" in Palestine to St. Louis after the 2014 shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown Jr.

"As a Palestinian, he was ready to resist, to rebel, to rise up with us as our St. Louis community mourned Mike Brown, Jr.'s state-sanctioned murder, and as we demanded an end to the militarized police occupation of our communities," Bush said on the floor of the House of Representatives. "Palestinians know what state violence, militarized policing, and occupation of their communities look like."

"So when heavily militarized police forces showed up in Ferguson in 2014, Bassem and so many others of our St. Louis Palestinian community, our Palestinian siblings showed up too," the far-left Democrat said.

Following the Ferguson shooting, Masri garnered notoriety for malicious messages that he would scream at police officers. Marsi would regularly threaten police officers, and even call for their deaths.

"Coward straight pig out here b****! You gotta go. Your life is in danger homie," Marsi yelled at cops in October 2014, according to KTVI-TV. During one BLM protest, Marsi asked a police officer, "What happens when we take your gun?"

Marsi went down the line of police officers and pointed at each one, "I'm praying for your death and your death and your death and your death."

Masri was one of the BLM activists who popularized the notorious anti-police chant: "Pigs in a blanket! Fry 'em like bacon!"

Marsi, who had 40 arrests for traffic violations, passed away in 2018 from what Bush called a "health crisis."

Bush called for an end to foreign aid to Israel during her speech, "That harassment, that extortion, that brutalization by heavily armed militarized presence in our community, that's what we fund when our government sends our tax dollars to the Israeli military."

The congresswoman suggested using those funds to support St. Louis communities instead.

Earlier this month, Bush praised the "historic" vote to defund the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and axe nearly 100 police officer positions, despite the city being one of the most violent in the world.