The Associated Press canned a newly-hired news correspondent after a slew of her anti-Israel commentary was uncovered by the Stanford College Republicans.
In a tweet thread, the Stanford College Republicans detailed the events that activist Emily Wilder participated in during her time on campus between 2016 and 2020. In a Facebook post, Wilder called the late pro-Israel advocate Sheldon Adelson a “naked mole rat.”
“In one week, I will be attending Jewish Voice for Peace’s Return to Birthright protest outside of Taglit-Birthright Israel’s fundraising gala with far-right, pro-Trump, naked mole rat looking billionaire [Sheldon] Adelson,” Wilder wrote.
In 2017, Wilder helped run a “Return the Birthright” rally in NYC, which the Stanford College Republicans claims “den[ied] the Jewish people of their own right to self-determination.”
The Return the Birthright cause was created by Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that believes Jewish people are occupying Palestinian territory. Their website claims that they want to “Return the Birthright because it’s unjust that we get a free Birthright trip, while Palestinian refugees can’t return to their homes.”
Recently, we discovered that the Associated Press has hired former Stanford anti-Israel agitator, Emily Wilder, who referred to the late Sheldon Adelson as a "naked mole rat" as one of their "journalists." @vv1lder pic.twitter.com/ZxtF8XhuHn
— Stanford College Republicans (@Stanford_GOP) May 18, 2021
Wilder also promoted the idea that Jews “ethnically cleansed” Palestinians from Judea and Samaria. In August 2018, she also defended the threats made by Hamzeh Daoud, a Stanford residential student who threatened to “physically fight Zionists on campus.”
A spokeswoman for the AP told the Washington Free Beacon that it “requires employees to abstain from political activity.” Three days before her termination, Wilder said that “objectivity” felt “fickle” with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“‘Objectivity’ feels fickle when the basic terms we use to report news implicitly stake a claim,” Wilder tweeted. “Using ‘israel’ but never ‘palestine,’ or ‘war’ but not ‘seige and occupation’ are political choices — yet media make those exact choices all the time without being flagged as bias.”
On May 19, Wilder was fired for violating the company’s media policy “during her time at AP.” Wilder told The Washington Post that she was devastated.
The AP has been the subject of criticism after the Israeli military uncovered that the outlet was allegedly housed in the same office building as the terrorist group Hamas. The outlet condemned the Israeli military for striking the office building and claimed that the Jewish state had a “rocky relationship” with the international media. The AP wrote:
Twelve AP staffers and freelancers were working and resting in the bureau on Saturday afternoon when the Israeli military telephoned a warning, giving occupants of the building one hour to evacuate. Everyone was able to get out, grabbing a few belongings, before three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it into a giant cloud of dust.
Although no one was hurt, the airstrike demolished an office that was like a second home for AP journalists and marked a new chapter in the already rocky relationship between the Israeli military and the international media.
In the following days, right-leaning outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, and The Washington Free Beacon published stories condemning the AP for hiring an anti-Israel activist amid the turmoil in the Middle East. Wilder told The Washington Post that she believes the AP fired her in response to the “high-profile pieces of criticism.”
Wilder did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.