In an interview with Laura Bush last night, CNN’s Erin Burnett cited the case of Samira Ibrahim, an Egyptian activist and would-be recipient of the State Department’s Women of Courage Award. The State Department postponed the conferral of the honor to Ibrahim after The Weekly Standardexposed her history of anti-Semitic and anti-American tweets, which include a description of Saudi Arabia’s ruling Saud family as “dirtier than the Jews” and — in a tweet that was quickly deleted after posting — an expressed desire, on the anniversary of 9/11, that “every year come with America burning.”
The incident prompted Erin Burnett to ask Laura Bush, a longtime advocate for women’s rights in the Middle East, whether America must support “people that do those things” in order to effect change in the region. “Is that a trade-off we have to make?” Burnett asked.