The Obama White House plan to honor an Egyptian woman, Samira Ibrahim, at a Department of State ceremony to celebrate the achievements of individuals on International Women’s Day was canceled. Foreign and Internet news media organizations revealed that the Obama administration was in fact honoring an anti-American, anti-Semite who heralded and cheered the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., according to a report on Friday by public-interest organization that investigates corruption.
The other awardees for this year are from Afghanistan, Honduras, Russia, Somalia, Nigeria, China, Syria, Vietnam, and India.
U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) asked the State Department to look more systematically into Ibrahim’s ideology, and said other women were more deserving of the honor.
Kirk sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry informing him that Ibrahim “expressed anti-Semitic views and support for international terrorism on her Twitter account” and called her hacking claim “dubious” given the timing and duration of the tweets.
"How embarrassing for the administration that, up until a few hours ago, it was set to bestow a special award upon Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim for all her work on behalf of women’s rights. First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were going to present Ibrahim with the International Women of Courage award at a State Department ceremony this afternoon," stated the Judicial Watch report released on Friday.
The event will go on and “nine extraordinary women” will still be commended, according to a State Department announcement, but Ibrahim was quickly dumped from the list of 10 women. The annual International Women of Courage Award's stated purpose is to recognize “women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.”
"It’s baffling that Ibrahim made the list in the first place, considering her history. Even her country’s English-language news website questioned the nomination earlier this week, pointing out that it was expected to fuel controversy after some foreign media outlets dug up some of her anti-Semitic and anti-US statements. Also published in Arabic, the Egyptian news site offers some of the outrageous comments Ibrahim has posted on her social media sites," states the JW report.
According to Judicial Watch:
On the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as terrorists attacked the American consulate in Libya and murdered the U.S. ambassador, Ibrahim posted this on her Twitter account: “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May [we] every year see the U.S. burning.”
On July 18, 2012, after five Israeli tourists were murdered by a Hezbollah suicide bomber, Ibrahim tweeted: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is such a lovely day with a lot of lovely news.”
In separate August 2012 posts, Ibrahim described Saudi Arabia’s ruling family as “dirtier than the Jews” and she seemed to compliment Adolf Hitler: “I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it. Hitler.”
Here is what a State Department spokeswoman told reporters this week as the agency scrambled to minimize the damage: “We, as a department, became aware very late in the process about Samira Ibrahim’s alleged public comments.”
Comments