NH Dem state rep apologizes for tweet
Nov. 1—CONCORD — State Rep. Maria Perez, D-Milford, said Monday she was "deeply sorry" for using a phrase on Twitter that some Jewish leaders said has been used by others to support the destruction of the state of Israel.
Perez issued a public apology three days after House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, had urged House Democratic Leader Renny Cushing of Hampton to join him in condemning her behavior.
"I deleted a recent tweet of mine after it came to my attention that a phrase, I used unwittingly carried an anti-Semitic connotation; that would never be my intention," Perez said in a statement Monday.
"I am deeply sorry for any pain my words caused. Through numerous conversations with Jewish colleagues, I have come to learn the derogatory meaning that the phrase can hold for the Jewish community."
On social media last Oct. 23, Perez had declared "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"
The slogan has been used by some who advocate the end of Israel as a Jewish state and the establishment of an Arab state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
After the tweet was criticized, Perez removed it, but last Friday on Twitter she defended her original post.
"I shared a slogan that Palestinian human rights activists use to convey that they desire freedom of movement and an end to settler colonization," Perez said.
"I believe in a one state solution where Jews, Muslims, Christians and others can live together with equal rights, unlike the current state of Israeli occupation and apartheid."
Wafic Faour of Richmond, Vt., came to her defense on Facebook.
"My dear friend, Rep. Maria Elizabeth Perez of the state of N.H. standing for Palestinian Human and Equal rights have been singled out purposely as anti Semitic; anti Semitic became a tool to silence anti-Israel's occupation! I stand with her and ask you to do the same!" he posted.
Perez's latest statement Monday came after officials with the Anti-Defamation League of New England and the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire joined in condemning her original post.
"I vehemently oppose anti-Semitism in every form it takes and commend the advocacy of my many esteemed Jewish colleagues in the House of Representatives and constituents in New Hampshire against all instances of bigotry in our state," Perez said Monday.
Speaker Packard said he came under severe criticism from Democrats for not coming down harder on two Republican members of the House accused of making their own posts that were viewed as anti-Semitic.
One of them, Rep. James Spillane, R-Deerfield, apologized in writing after he had shared online a cartoon found to be anti-Semitic.
The Legislative Ethics Committee formally admonished Spillane.
The other legislator, Rep. Dawn Johnson, R-Laconia, apologized for posting the link to an article on a neo-Nazi website.
Perez is in her first term as one of four House members representing Milford and serves on the House Environment and Agriculture Committee.
She has worked as a field organizer for Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar during the 2020 presidential campaign.
