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Ex-CIA operative apologizes for tweet of anti-Semitic article

Ex-CIA operative apologizes for tweet of anti-Semitic article
Posted at 7:11 PM, Sep 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-21 22:11:34-04

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson is apologizing after tweeting an anti-Semitic article titled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars" on Thursday.

Wilson has been critical of President Donald Trump and his use of Twitter -- including a recent effort on GoFundMe to buy a stake of Twitter and convince the company to ban the President.

On Thursday, Wilson shared the article from The Unz Review, an alternative conservative website. After criticism, Wilson repeatedly offered remorse for sharing the article with a series of tweets.

 

"1) First of all, calm down. Re-tweets don't imply endorsement. Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish," she wrote. Later adding, "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest."

Wilson was previously a covert officer in the CIA, but her identity was revealed in a CIA leak scandal during the Bush administration.

She now serves on the board of Ploughshares Fund, an organization working to end the threat of nuclear weapons.

Ploughshare Fund's President Joe Cirincione said in a statement that Wilson "seriously erred" in retweeting the anti-Semitic article, and the organization is "investigating this entire matter further."

"Ploughshares Fund condemns in the strongest terms what we believe to be white supremacist and anti-Semitic propaganda espoused by this site. The prejudices promulgated by this site are an affront to American values and human decency," Cirincione said. "Our focused mission does not mean turning a blind eye to bigotry. We have a moral responsibility to stand up against bigotry and injustice wherever it is found. As private citizens and as a public organization dedicated to justice, peace and security, we unequivocally oppose racism, anti-Semitism and prejudice in every form."