Jewish Group Rescinds Award To Politician Who Said Israel ‘Desecrates The Holy Land’

A Jewish group on Wednesday rescinded an award it was set to give to a Northern Virginia school board member who last week tweeted that Israel is a colonizing state that “desecrates the Holy Land” and “kills Palestinians.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) said that it had offered Abrar Omeish “an opportunity to meaningfully amend her remarks. Unfortunately, she has continued to stoke the flames of division and acrimony: She has not taken down her tweet, she has not taken affirmative steps to try to stem the vitriolic, hateful rhetoric on social media triggered by her remarks, and she seems uninterested in being a voice for authentic empathy, grace, and healing.”