Kirk Calls on Kerry to Abandon Award to Accused Anti-Semite

Samira Ibrahim was to be among women honored with International Women of Courage Award on Friday

After receiving a letter from Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, the State Department on Thursday said it would not give an award to an Egyptian activist accused of posting anti-Semitic comments on her Twitter account.

Kirk wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry after The Weekly Standard published an article detailing Samira Ibrahim's various Twitter posts:

On July 18 of last year, after five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver were killed a suicide bombing attack, Ibrahim jubilantly tweeted: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.” ...

Last August 4, commenting on demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, she described the ruling Al Saud family as “dirtier than the Jews.” Seventeen days later she tweeted in reference to 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.” ...

As a mob was attacking the United States embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, pulling down the American flag and raising the flag of Al Qaeda, Ibrahim wrote on twitter: “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.”

The July 18 and August 4 tweets remain on her account. The Sept. 11 tweet was deleted but another activist captured the purported message in a screenshot.

"If the Weekly Standard report is accurate, I urge you to immediately rescind the nomination of Samira Ibrahim and instead grant the award to a more deserving candidate," Kirk wrote in his letter to Kerry, a copy of which was posted to The Washington Free Beacon.

Kirk called for an investigation into Ibrahim's tweets and recommended that Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer in Iran, instead be considered to be among the recipients of the annual International Women of Courage Award.

The State Department has apparently agreed with Kirk. Ibrahim's name is absent from an updated press release touting the presentation.

"We as a department became aware very late in the process about Samira Ibrahim’s alleged public comments," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told The Washington Times. "After careful consideration, we’ve decided that we should defer presenting this award to Ms. Ibrahim this year so that we have a chance to look further into these statements."

Ibrahim, in a follow-up tweet, claims her account has been hacked in the past and that she didn't post the anti-Semitic tweets.

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