Virginia Democratic Candidate Apologizes to Jewish Community for Past Statements

“Coming so closely on the heels of Omar’s controversial statements, and following similar support for radical anti-Israel measures by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—for whom Samirah served as a campaign official charged with getting out the vote—Samirah’s candidacy is further evidence of a fundamental sea change in Democratic party politics.

“In one generation,” said Kyle Shideler, a scholar with the Middle East Forum think tank, “positions once viewed as radical—literally held up only by groups the U.S. government says were affiliated with Hamas—have now became mainstream and are presented totally without apology.”

In his apology letter, Samirah characterized his earlier remarks as the ill-considered statements of a young student, while, at the same time, arguing that he was the victim of a “slander campaign.”

The candidate offered no details as to who was behind said campaign or why it might’ve been orchestrated. Nor has Samirah stated whether or not he still held the worldview evident from his messages on social media platforms as well as from his years as a leader in Students for Justice in Palestine, a key organization in the BDS movement to single out the Jewish state for censure.