Graduation Speaker Urges Students to Remember Their ‘Jihad’

Abrar Omeish poses for a photo in front of a swingset. (Abrar Omeish/Facebook)
Abrar Omeish/Facebook
Dr. Susan Berry

Students of a Fairfax County, Virginia, high school heard a graduation address by the school board’s only Muslim member who warned them they were headed out to a world rooted in racism and white supremacy.

The Daily Wire reported Friday Abrar Omeish warned Falls Church’s Justice High School graduates last week of the apocalypse for which they should brace themselves:

Our world is overwhelmed with need. We struggle with human greed, racism, extreme versions of individualism and capitalism, white supremacy, growing wealth gaps, disease, climate crisis, extreme poverty amidst luxury and waste right next door. And the list goes on.

The mainly immigrant graduating class heard Omeish, speaking in both English and Arabic, urge them to remember their “jihad.”

The Daily Mail provided video of Omeish’s address:

“You understand that neutral is another word for complicit,” she told them.

In May, Omeish drew controversy for a tweet in which she stated on the Muslim feast day, “Hurts my heart to celebrate while Israel kills Palestinians & desecrates the Holy Land right now. Apartheid & colonization were wrong yesterday and will be today, here and there”:

Omeish warned graduates they are “walking into a world that will be uncomfortable when you seek to cause good trouble.”

“And that may seek to intimidate you or make you think the truth is controversial,” she said, adding that while “every part of your being may scream in rage at the ways others have wronged you,” still “let compassion for your fellow human beings, not anger or rage — and believe me this is hard to do — fuel you.”

“No matter how many haters emerge, I’m sure you’ve encountered them yourselves, and believe me they’re a sign you’re unsettling the status quo towards justice,” she stated. “Just consider them your cheerleaders of another breed.”

According to the Daily Wire, the JROTC military cadets who participated in the graduation ceremony were the only individuals at the graduation event who wore masks.

The report noted the class president, who led the Pledge of Allegiance, referring to it as “the nation’s anthem,” stated the United States was “one nation under Allah.” She also referred to Omeish as a “role model,” according to the report, asserting Omeish’s “civil rights were violated by the police due to her appearance” two years ago.

“She was attacked and discriminated against,” the student leader said.

However, as the Daily Wire observed:

That entire incident is on video, which shows that an officer pulled over her car after watching her run a red light from a distance, from which her appearance was not visible. She repeatedly refused to show her license and then refused to get out of the car, leading to her arrest.

The student president also reportedly called attention to Omeish’s previous post as “Virginia co-chair for the Bernie Sanders campaign,” and mentioned her father was a “leader and a board member of the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center” who “raised his daughter to be an outspoken woman.”

As Breitbart News reported in June 2017, the Dar al-Hijrah mosque was founded with a $5 million dollar grant from Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in the United States. Reports revealed two of the 9/11 hijackers and the Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hassan, all attended that mosque.

American al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki was also an imam at Dar al-Hijrah. Al-Awlaki was killed in 2011 in a drone strike ordered by former President Barack Obama.

Omeish noted that her father, Esam Omeish was in attendance at the graduation.

In her “Back to School 2020” Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) board member video, published in September, Omeish told parents in English, Spanish, and Arabic, “I know what it’s like not to feel heard or seen by a system.”

Omeish praised the graduates for their political activism, celebrating their initiation of “the first-ever black history month assembly to ensure that we confront our history and answer honestly about the ills of our past.”

The school board member gave a “huge shout out” to the class president who lauded her as a “role model,” and to teacher Corey Haynes, “for her leadership in supporting and empowering students despite the pushback.”

“Let’s hear it for them, guys,” Omeish urged, adding:

They empowered your voice. Your model, Justice Class of 2021, moved the superintendent of the tenth largest school division in the country to follow your lead to teach with courage. And you pushed to incorporate that in the school schedule because you understand that social justice is only political for those who can afford to ignore it.

“Our successes are not worth celebrating until we all come along,” Omeish said.

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