WATCH: Virginia official calls US victory in WWII ‘evil’

“The deliberate distortion of my statements is completely unfounded and frankly shocking,” the official said.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears called out Muslim Fairfax County Board member Abrar Omeish, who said that the Battle of Iwo Jima, a major US victory over Japan during World War II, was “evil” and should not have happened. Omeish also misrepresented the Holocaust, Sears said.

Reacting to harsh criticism of her comments, including from parents, Omeish doubled down, saying in a statement to 7News that while the Japanese caused an “unnecessary spilling of blood…our government’s actions were also not right…

“The deliberate distortion of my statements is completely unfounded and frankly shocking. Truthfully, it is hard not to see how the distortion is not loaded with its own fears about me and driven by what is entirely unrelated to this subject: the false assumption articles like these depend on— that Muslim somehow implies anti-American,” she said.