Fairfax County school board member defends her remarks that Battle of Iwo Jima was 'evil'

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — At a recent school board meeting, Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish described the Battle of Iwo Jima as evil.

Omeish’s comments have received national attention and outrage from some parents.

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Here’s what Omeish said during last week’s school board meeting:

“There’s also a lot of history in February. A number of community members reached out to me just a few days ago. It was Japanese Day of Remembrance,” said Omeish. “Just something for us to reflect on as we learn our history and think about it. The days when Iwo Jima unfortunately happened and set a record for really what I hate to say human evil is capable of. So that’s something just to remember especially actually in advance of Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

The Battle of Iwo Jima is seen as one of America’s major victories during World War II and it’s one of the most famous in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines died during the weeks-long battle.

After her comment, the Fairfax County Parents Association asked if Omeish is condemning brave U.S. Marines that invaded Iwo Jima.

7News reached out to Omeish for a response.

She defended her comments during the school board meeting in this statement to 7News:

“I am very disappointed my statements on Iwo Jima and the Japanese Day of Remembrance have been so misrepresented. I would like to set the record straight. 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.

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. 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. 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.”