At a vigil for the victims of the attacks on two Christchurch mosques, an NYU student accused Chelsea Clinton of using rhetoric encouraging attacks on Muslims.
By World Israel News Staff
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son Don Jr. has come to the defense of Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the Democratic presidential candidate who his father defeated in 2016.
In the immediate aftermath of the New Zealand mosque massacres on Friday, the younger Clinton was confronted by a student while attending a New York University (NYU) interfaith vigil for the victims of the terror attacks on the two mosques.
A Twitter user by the name of “@Esor_Fasa” uploaded a video of a confrontation between NYU senior Leen Dweik and Clinton at the vigil on Friday night, according to the Washington Examiner, which adds that the account on which this video originated has since been deleted.
“This, right here, is a result of a massacre stoked by people like you and the words that you have put out into the world,” Dweik told Clinton in the video. “And I want you to know that and I want you to feel that deep down inside. Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric you put out there.”
The student was referring to Clinton’s comments last month about the rhetoric used by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Muslim who criticized the support many members of Congress maintain with Israel. In various critical comments made by Omar about Israel, she has been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes.
Clinton joined the condemnations against Omar saying that “we should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.”
On Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that “it’s sickening to see people blame Chelsea Clinton for the New Zealand attacks because she spoke out against anti-Semitism. We should all be condemning anti-Semitism and all forms of hate,” wrote Don Jr., adding that “Chelsea should be praised for speaking up. Anyone who doesn’t understand this is part of the problem.”
Clinton co-founded an interfaith leadership institute at NYU in 2012, the Washington Examiner noted.
Dweik appears to be a left-wing student activist who helped disrupt a talk by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the university last year, and a student senator representing Middle East and North African students, it said.