School board slammed after member calls Battle of Iwo Jima victory 'unfortunate'

close

Video

Survivor of Mao's Revolution on the need to teach about the danger of communism in America

Survivor of Mao’s Revolution Xi Van Fleet and Virginia father of four Joe Mobley slam state Democrats for opposing a bill to teach the history of communism and react to a school board member calling Iwo Jima ‘unfortunate’

A school board member in Fairfax County, Virginia is under fire after she claimed the Battle of Iwo Jima was "unfortunate" and "evil." 

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Abrar Omeish has since doubled down on her comments on the Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the victims of Japanese-American internment during World War II and coincides with the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945, calling the backlash a "distortion" of her views as a Muslim.

Virginia father of four and veteran Joe Mobley joined "Fox & Friends First" Tuesday to react to the statement, which he described as "ironic." 

"This is the quiet part out loud," Mobley said. "Ms. Abrar is literally saying it's unfortunate that the good guys won, it's unfortunate when we stopped communism and when we stopped Marxism's march across the world. That was ‘bad,’ and I think that's the result of unfortunately being brought up in a school system that is just ripe with CRT, that's ripe with Marxist ideology."

MEET THE AMERICAN WHO FIRST COMMANDED THE MARINES: REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO SAMUEL NICHOLAS

Abrar Omeish poses for a portrait in her home in Fairfax, VA on June 1, 2019.  (Will Newton for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

During last week's school board meeting, Omeish said the Day of Remembrance was "Something for us to certainly reflect on … the days when, you know, Iwo Jima unfortunately happened and set a record for really what, I hate to say, human evil is capable of."

The Battle of Iwo Jima, where almost 7,000 American service members died trying to capture the island of Japan from the imperial Japanese, is considered a significant U.S. victory in World War II.

Virginia Lt. Gov Winsome Sears (R) demanded an apology from the school board member Monday on "America's Reports." 

"The battle Iwo Jima was the bloodiest battle that Marines had ever faced," Sears said. "One third of all Marines who died in World War II died in that Pacific theater in that battle. And we had women who died and served. We had Navajo code talkers who the Japanese were after because they couldn't break the code. We had Latinos and Black Marines who served and we had other military branches. She owes the families of these men and women who served an apology."

View of members of the United States Marine Corps 5th Division as they raise an American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945. (Photo by Joe Rosenthal/Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

"My heart is heavy because we need leaders who bring people together," she continued. "They don't divide. We need leaders who let the wounds, the scabs of the past heal so we're not at each other's throats. What she has said is nothing but division and it's dangerous."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Omeish said she was "very disappointed" that her comments on Iwo Jima and the Japanese Day of Remembrance "have been so misrepresented."

"Before the battle at Iwo Jima in Feb 1945, Japan knew it could not defend the island, but its Government still demanded its military forces to fight to the death. Even though Lieutenant General Kuribayashi knew there was no possibility of winning the battle, Prime Minster Hideki Tojo sent him on a suicidal mission to inflict as many casualties as possible on allied forces and to never surrender. The unnecessary spilling of blood was not right," she said.

"At the same time, our own Government also knew in Feb 1945 that the overwhelming number of 120,000 incarcerated Japanese Americans posed no threat to American security," she added. "By that time, the Japanese American 442 Infantry Regiment was already well on its way to becoming the most decorated American military unit in WWII. The refusal of our own Government to release the Japanese prisoners was and should continue to be condemned. Our government’s actions were also not right. During the school board meeting, I mentioned both points to nuance our discussion regarding these events."

Video

In 2021, Omeish received backlash from parents after she gave a politically charged commencement speech where she told the primarily-minority student body to remember their "jihad" as they enter into a racist world which she described as overcome by "extreme versions of individualism and capitalism." 

FCPS said in a statement that Omeish's comments were protected under the First Amendment and that they were her personal views, not those of the school board or district.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Omeish also upset Jewish parents in the district with "vile anti-Semitic tweets on her social accounts," FCPS parent Gary Aiken told "Fox & Friends First" in 2021.

"I think it's important for your viewers to know that Abrar Omeish’s comments here are incendiary comments, are not the first example of divisive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," Aiken said at the time.

Fox News' Kendall Tietz and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report