College Democrats Leader Under Fire For Anti-Semitic Tweets

Nourhan Mesbah faces calls to resign from student Democrats across the country

Alex Nester • September 29, 2021 4:00 pm

A College Democrats of America leader is facing pressure to resign after her anti-Semitic tweets resurfaced.

Just one day before Nourhan Mesbah was elected vice president of the College Democrats’ executive board, the national student club’s Jewish Caucus released a screenshot of a 2016 tweet where she blamed Jews for sabotaging Hillary Clinton in a debate against Donald Trump.

“I blame this debate on the yahood,” Mesbah tweeted. “Yahood” is the Arabic word for Jews.

In her tweet, Mesbah tagged Dima Jubara, an acquaintance with a long history of anti-Semitic statements—including one 2016 tweet where she prayed that “God will kill the Jews.” The College Democrats of America Jewish Caucus called on Mesbah to drop out of the race and resign from the organization. College Democrats chapters at George Washington University and American University echoed calls for Mesbah’s resignation and threatened to withdraw from the national organization if it fails to address anti-Semitism within its ranks.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the Democratic Party. Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and other left-wing members of the Democratic Party are quick to address instances of hatred toward minority groups but have largely ignored hate crimes against Jews, which far exceeded those against Asians, Muslims, and transgender people combined in 2020, according to FBI crime statistics released Sept. 27. House progressives earlier this month successfully lobbied to strip funding from Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from a defense spending bill.

Mesbah issued an apology but denied her tweets stemmed from hatred toward Jews. She quickly turned to discussing her own experience with bigotry as a “Muslim, immigrant, woman of color.”

“While I take responsibility for my actions, I am hurt by the Islamophobia and xenophobia that continues to unfold,” Mesbah’s statement reads. “The harassment I have faced is never acceptable but unfortunately all too common for Muslim, immigrant women of color who often face bigoted targeting unique to our experience.”

Prior to her election, Mesbah served as College Democrats’ director of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accountability. Mesbah would have been the first person alerted at the national level if anti-Semitic tweets from College Democrats leadership surfaced.

Mesbah’s predecessor, former College Democrats of America vice president Tasneem Ahmad Al-Michael, also tweeted racial slurs and anti-Semitic comments. In May, he tweeted, “I’m part of the ‘From the river to the sea’ group,” referencing an anti-Semitic phrase that calls for the elimination of the Jewish state.

Two members of College Democrats of America who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon on condition of anonymity said they believe the elected officials will pass anti-Israel resolutions and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions measures.

“If we insist on zero tolerance for bigotry we have to mean it in every instance, not just when it’s convenient for our own political sensibilities,” one of those members told the Free Beacon. “As a party, Democrats must be clear in our opposition to anti-Semitism and our commitment to the State of Israel.”