Brooklyn lawmaker says ‘Palestine does not exist’, sparks backlash on Twitter

(QNN) – A Brooklyn lawmaker sparked a social media backlash Wednesday by a quote tweet denying the existence of Palestine and accusing congresswoman Ilhan Omar of being an anti-Semite.

Councilman Kalman Yeger, who represents Midwood and other neighborhoods with large Jewish populations, started the thread after quoting a tweet for Omar where she denounced comments and criticism against her by the Israeli PM Netanyahu at the AIPAC conference, and accusing her of anti-Semitism

Yeger’s tweet that denied the existence of Palestine was a direct response to a post by Zainab Iqbal, a writer for the blog Bklyner, who had posted a story she wrote in March 2018 citing Yeger’s previous anti-Palestine remarks.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson responded to the social media storm Wednesday with a tweet denouncing Yeger’s comments, calling them “unhelpful and unwelcome.”

“Comments like these do not do anything to advance the dialogue needed to foster a peaceful solution which is something we should all be working toward,” Johnson said in a screen-captured message.

Palestinian-American poet and writer Remi Kanazi described Yeger’s comments as “racism” and called for a wide condemnation for such hate speech.

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