Former covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson has apologized for sharing an article on Twitter Thursday that suggested American Jews support war in Iran.
The article was posted on the Unz Review, a website that describes itself as having “controversial perspectives largely excluded from the American mainstream media.” Philip Giraldi is the author of the article, “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars,” which asks if Jews should “recuse themselves when dealing with the Middle East.”
Plame Wilson apologized after a barrage of criticism, saying she “messed up.”
https://twitter.com/ValeriePlame/status/910914285311754240
Giraldi argues that American Jews “have been very successful at faking the Iranian threat,” convincing “nearly all Republican and most Democratic congressmen as well as much of the media” that “Iran needs to be dealt with firmly, most definitely by using the U.S. military, and the sooner the better.”
Plame Wilson retweeted the article Thursday morning with no additional commentary, but after critical replies, she initially defended her choice to share it.
“First of all, calm down. Re-tweets don’t imply endorsement. Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish,” Plame Wilson tweeted, pointing out that she of Jewish descent herself. “I am not in favor of war with Iran, or getting out of the Iran nuclear treaty,” she continued, adding that there are “simply too many who are so ready to go to war.”
She then urged her followers to read the article for themselves, and to “try, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly.”
https://twitter.com/ValeriePlame/status/910893481735757825
https://twitter.com/ValeriePlame/status/910893826079723521
https://twitter.com/ValeriePlame/status/910894036545765376
https://twitter.com/ValeriePlame/status/910894146029621249
That didn’t stop critics. Several Twitter users did read the article for themselves, finding that Giraldi calls for media outlets to label anyone Jewish that appears on a program. Giraldi says this labeling would be “kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison.” Obviously, many, many, people have a problem with the idea of labeling Jewish people.
Here are some of the reactions:
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/910895424046735360
https://twitter.com/geek_mojo/status/910895680713105408
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/910901247024222208
The article is… way worse than the headline. pic.twitter.com/UL7AZSI59w
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) September 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/jesse9michaels/status/910900191053545472
https://twitter.com/jesse9michaels/status/910900528917340161
https://twitter.com/thingsnoticed/status/910895898254872577