Protester Who Interrupted Trump Speech Is Dem Lawmaker with History of Anti-Israel Remarks
A Virginia state lawmaker who disrupted a speech by President Donald Trump in Jamestown on Tuesday has a troubling history of making anti-Israel remarks and supporting anti-Semitic organizations with ties to Hamas.
Democratic Del. Ibraheem Samirah, a first-term delegate who prides himself on being — according to his Twitter page — the “youngest American Muslim legislator anywhere,” interrupted the president’s speech on Tuesday by shouting, “You can’t send us back! Virginia is our home!” Fox News reported.
According to a news release from his office, Samirah was protesting the “racist-in-chief” who was “hijack[ing] a celebration of democratic values he doesn’t even hold.”
“Through both rhetoric & policy [Trump] brings bigots out of the woodwork,” the delegate added on Twitter.
White supremacy is a cancer in our nation, but the president is giving it a home in the White House. Through both rhetoric & policy he brings bigots out of the woodwork, making tragedies like Gilroy all the more common.
This is why we fight. #DeportHatehttps://t.co/ZrWzmc9jht
— Delegate Ibraheem Samirah (@IbraheemSamirah) July 31, 2019
Unfortunately for Samirah, however, his own flirtations with bigotry are also coming “out of the woodwork.”
Following Samirah’s election in February, The Washington Post reported a trio of anti-Israel comments the legislator posted to Facebook in 2014.
In one post, Samirah shared a published letter from musician Brian Eno suggesting that America’s sending monetary aid to Israel was equivalent to funding the Klu Klux Klan, The Post reported.
“I’d say worse, but I’ll go along with Eno on this one,” Samirah wrote.
In another post, following the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Samirah wrote, “Ariel Sharon, burn. Burn a million times for every innocent soul you killed. Hell is excited to have you.”
Samirah also shared an article about Israel using dating apps to “legitimize murder.”
“Most Israeli teenagers not only want to cover up the murders in their name, but they have young urges that need to be released somehow! Tinder’s perfect for that,” Samirah said on Facebook.
The Virginia delegate’s worrisome history, however, is not limited to comments alone.
As The Washington Free Beacon reported, Samirah was an active member of Students for Justice in Palestine during his time at American University.
An activist organization that supports boycotts and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel, SJP is financially dependent upon American Muslims for Palestine, an advocacy group of which Samirah is also a member, according to The Free Beacon.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, AMP “has its organizational roots in the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), an anti-Semitic group that served as the main propaganda arm for Hamas in the United States until it was dissolved in 2004.”
Straight from the Islamophobia playbook. Same attack @VA_GOP has used on me.
Good to know national and state level Republicans compare notes on harrassing Muslim people. https://t.co/UEVurMIxU4 pic.twitter.com/wKTxqXF4Q7
— Delegate Ibraheem Samirah (@IbraheemSamirah) July 28, 2019
On Twitter, Samirah has responded to calls for him to denounce Hamas by decrying the “Islamophobia playbook” of “harrassing Muslim people.”
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