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* Earlier this week…
Four days before she called on Chicago's new school board president to resign for posts criticized as antisemitic, State Sen. Feigenholtz called someone a "badass truth teller" for a deeply Islamophobic tweet saying Muslims "stick their heads in the dirt multiple times a day" https://t.co/TpNJfVyLLv pic.twitter.com/RHHpWtVnYQ
— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) October 31, 2024
Issa is one of the same reporters granted an exclusive interview with the Chicago School Board President who posted several anti-semitic and mysoginist comments and promoted a 9/11 conspiracy theory. Rev. Mitchell Johnson resigned the next day.
* Sen. Feigenholtz deleted her comment and then issued this press release…
State Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) issued the following apology regarding her sharing of an offensive social media post:
“Earlier this week, I made a comment on an individual’s social media account that has hurt and offended members of our community.
“I made a mistake and, as a result, I shared a message I do not believe in. It was never my intention to reply to – let alone amplify – that individual’s inflammatory remarks.
“Everyone deserves to feel heard and respected, especially by their elected leaders. I apologize for the pain my action has caused, and I will work with my staff and colleagues to ensure this does not happen again.”
I followed up about her claim that she never intended to reply to the sentiments in that tweet. Sen. Feigenholtz said she made the comment based on a recent speech she’d just watched, not on the tweet itself.
Feigenholtz has close ties to the Jewish man who was shot this week on his way into a Chicago synagogue, so it’s been a really tough week. But, still.
* Sen. Feigenholtz has been a leader on pro-choice activism and LGBTQ+ rights, but she said she was completely unaware of these statements…
If you are pro-abortion, LGBTQ, Hamas, Intifada, or "Palestine".
Leave my platform IMMEDIATELY.You have been disrespecting yourself by following someone who doesn't follow you.
UNFOLLOW NOW.
— Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF) August 5, 2024
Every situation has exceptions. In most cases, the man wants an abortion. Not the woman.
— Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF) August 5, 2024
* From his Wikipedia profile…
Yousef has compared Islam to Nazism, and said he has “zero respect for anyone who identifies as Muslim”.
* Sen. Feigenholtz’s apology was issued at 9:45 this morning. From the Sun-Times this afternoon…
Muslim leaders on Friday called for the resignation of state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz over anti-Arab social media posts, including one in which she praises an Islamophobic poster as a “badass truth teller.”
The Muslim leaders, who included two state representatives, said the posts amounted to the same type of hate speech that led to the resignation Thursday of the Chicago Board of Education president, who was found to have written antisemitic posts on social media. […]
[Feigenholtz] claimed the comment this week was in response to the poster’s “address before the European Union Parliament where he spoke out against Hamas and their mission. I do not subscribe to or support any inflammatory remarks made on the post where my comment appeared,” she wrote in the statement.
That speech was, um, quite something.
As noted above, Rev. Mitchell Johnson made several antisemitic posts, as well as other disgusting remarks. That was no one-off comment situation.
The other post she was blasted for was a statement she shared on social media from the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. Click here.
Your thoughts on this?
Take a deep breath before commenting.
…Adding… Dr. Dilara Sayeed, the President of the Muslim Civic Coalition…
We have consistently reached out to engage with Senator Feigenholtz. We met her for hours to help her better understand the Muslim-led businesses and mosques in her district of diverse racial backgrounds, and to connect her with some of the thousands of Muslim residents she represents.
There is no trust or confidence in her leadership as a state legislator when she then goes on to continue a pattern of promoting Islamophobes and posting hate speech that may endanger the lives of her constituents. This is the exact type of dangerous rhetoric that led to the hate and murder of Wadee, an innocent six year old Palestinian boy in our state.
This week, Senator Feigenholtz called on the CPS Board President to resign for anti-Semitic remarks. She should hold herself to the same standard and resign.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 3:16 pm
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Let’s keep the same energy for folks who are asked step down for antisemitic comments.
Comment by Chicago Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 3:36 pm
Apologize profusely and quit whatever has become of what was once Twitter.
Comment by Glengarry Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 3:45 pm
I think it was like when the MBJ folks were trying the “well Daley did this” line. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Everyone should remember that.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 3:54 pm
Lots of glass houses out there
Comment by DuPage Saint Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 3:57 pm
Hard to look past this… don’t think we should. Have to be better than this.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:00 pm
If the comments were about the Jewish faith, there would be no question about calls for her resignation.
Her explanation is that it was a response to a speech? What was so moving about this speech?
The part in which he completely erases the identity Palestinian people or calls being Palestinian nothing more than a violent movement to kill jewish people?
Comment by CardRed Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:01 pm
I think that in America you’re allowed to be a lil Islamophobic and the press will even help by calling it a one off.
Comment by SwiSider Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:06 pm
Sauce, goose, gander.
Comment by Quibbler Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:08 pm
==Take a deep breath before commenting.===
This should be the mantra of every public official before commenting on social media.
Comment by twowaystreet Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:12 pm
Feigenholtz is lucky Elon Musk hid likes on twitter.
Comment by Olive oil dreams Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:18 pm
Rich called it a one-off, but Dr. Sayeed suggested a pattern. Which is it?
Comment by JJJJJJJJJJ Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:24 pm
Can’t believe any elected official is still posting their thoughts on any social media platform, let alone the cesspool that is X.
As long as her apology is sincere, and I think it is, I’m willing to accept it. Just as I was wiling to accept the CPS Board president’s apology for his anti-Semitic comments. The sheer horror of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza has unfortunately super-charged emotions and led to good people saying some bad things.
Now, if it turns out she’s also been disbarred for ripping off legal clients, and has skipped child support payments, and liked sexist memes, and is a 911 truther, I think she should resign.
Comment by Sal Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:24 pm
Not a huge fan of the Senator in general (and I am a constituent) but it feels like she’s had a handful of these.
Comment by Anan Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:30 pm
Sorry, but this feels much more like certain Muslim community leaders are interested in changing the narrative and using Sara as a scapegoat. Did Dilara Sayeed ask for the resignation of the school board president after he made multiple egregious, anti-Jew, anti-Semitic comments? Anyone who knows Feigenholtz knows that she would never support Islamophobia. She did not personally make comments that were Islamophobic. And if she says that she was commenting on the speech at European Parliament, I’ll take her word for it. Was it a bad judgment call to reply on a thread that easily could’ve been taken out of context like this one? Yes. Should she and other elected officials stay off Twitter? Yes. Does this truly rise to the occasion of calling for her resignation? Come on, no way.
Comment by Shytown Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:34 pm
- Shytown - Friday, Nov 1, 24 @ 4:34 pm: “Was it a bad judgment call to reply on a thread that easily could’ve been taken out of context like this one? ”
What context is there for Muslims sticking their “heads in the dirt everyday” Seriously, provide me context.
Comment by No One You Know Tuesday, Nov 5, 24 @ 8:40 am