A Virginia school board member recently claimed that Iwo Jima, when the United States military claimed victory over the Japanese enemy during World War II, was “evil.”
Abrar Omeish was elected to the Fairfax County school board in 2019, and made her comments during a meeting on Thursday, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
According to video footage shared by the Fairfax County Parents Association, Omeish said:
There’s also a lot of history in February. A number of community members reach out to me, and just a few days ago was Japanese Remembrance, something for us to certainly reflect on as we learn our history and think about it. The days when Iwo Jima unfortunately happened, and set a record for really what, I hate to say, human evil is capable of. And so that’s something to remember, especially actually in advance of Holocaust Remembrance Day which is coming up, and just so many moments for us to think about what human beings are capable of, and how we can turn the tide, and turn the trajectory to make sure that we’re building better.
Here’s video of the above quoted (mis?)statement from Ms. Omeish. pic.twitter.com/D05eJfuVAH
— Fairfax County Parents Association (@FFXParentsAssoc) February 24, 2023
According to the Beacon, Omeish has reportedly made anti-Israel comments and “has candidly acknowledged anti-Asian bias in the district’s admissions policy,” the outlet said.
In a video posted in October 2019, Omeish described herself as the “Democratic candidate for Fairfax County School Board At-Large.”
On November 5th Vote Abrar Omeish for Fairfax School Board At Large
I’m Abrar Omeish, Democratic candidate for Fairfax County School Board At-Large. I’m running to ensure that the “great equalizer”, education, is fairly facilitated to all students. On November 5th, vote for me, and together we can build a better future for our children.Run for SomethingFairfax County Public SchoolsFairfax County Democratic Committee
Posted by Abrar Omeish on Thursday, October 31, 2019
Her most recent comments referred to the Day of Remembrance for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, which shares the day with the first U.S. landings on Iwo Jima.
According to History.com, the island had three airfields that could have been used as staging areas for a possible invasion of Japan.
The five-week-long battle that began on February 19, 1945, turned into some of the bloodiest fighting during the war, with nearly 7,000 Marines killed.
Video footage shows American forces making their way over the “volcanic ash, the terrible yellow, craggy, rocky, lifeless soil” on the island as bullets flew past their heads during the fighting:
According to the Daily Mail, Omeish’s father is “also a member of the Board of Directors of a Fairfax mosque where three of the 9/11 hijackers had prayed before carrying out the heinous attacks,” the outlet reported Sunday.
When the Beacon asked the young woman to clarify her comments about Iwo Jima, she said in part, “There is no reason to warp what was said and reading more into it merely reflects biases forced in by the listener.”
However, Omeish did not tell the outlet why she called Iwo Jima “evil” or why she said it “unfortunately happened.”
