El Paso District 2 Election: Verónica Carbajal Instagram Post Accuses Israel Of Genocide In Gaza

An Instagram post shared by Verónica Carbajal on her official campaign channel on October 19 led to several readers reaching out to El Paso News to express their disapproval of the post and the inappropriateness of it by a candidate running for the District 2 city council seat. The post shared by Carbajal accuses Israel of conducting genocide in Gaza.

The Carbajal Instagram post disappeared from Carbajal’s Instagram feed 24 hours after it was posted. The Instagram platform automatically disappears posts shared on user’s feeds 24 hours after the user shares them. In an email response to our request for comment on November 27, Carbajal wrote that the post “was not a post,” adding that she “shared a post created by someone else.”

Carbajal wrote that she “did not remove the story...It expired.”

The Israel and Hamas War

On October 7, 2023 Hamas militants launched a highly-organized assault on Israel from the Gaza strip . The Hamas militants took over 200 hostages, killed 260 and injured over 5,000 in the initial assault. At least 32 Americans have died. Hamas said the aim of the attack was “to free Palestinian prisoners, stop Israeli aggression on al-Aqsa Mosque, and break the siege on Gaza.” The day after the Hamas attack, Israel declared war on Hamas. Hamas was declared a terrorist organization by the United States in 1997.

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as with any war, has led to rising war rhetoric accusing each side of inappropriate acts. The post uses the term genocide, accusing Israel of committing it against the Palestinians. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish non-governmental advocacy group based in New York, that “accusing Israel of genocide has the collateral effect [of] diminishing real acts of genocide – such as those that occurred in the Holocaust, against Armenians, and in Rwanda.”

The ADL adds that “it is deeply concerning that Israel is often the only country in the world accused by activist groups of contemporaneously engaging in genocide” and that the use of the term, which the ADL calls a legal term “applies a singularly demonizing double standard to Israel.”

The ADL concluded its October 25, 2023 statement with “regardless of how the term is applied, it is clearly heard and impacts a large audience who hear it as the legal term intended to convey the most awful of human crimes – mass murder and population expulsion – a charge that is misapplied to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

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Common Dreams , a 501c3 non-profit serving the progressive movement, accuses Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s “coalition of extremists” of “unleashing a ‘unifying’ genocidal war against every child, woman and man that comprise the 2.3 million population of Gaza.”

The conflict has led to strong accusations from both sides and some members of the Jewish community in El Paso have condemned the Carbajal post. Several readers reached out to us angry about the post. Because of the strong emotions and the polarizing effect of the conflict, we decided to publish this article because Carbajal shared a post that some have found to be offensive on her official campaign channel instead of her personal account, making the post part of her political campaign. Furthermore, Carbajal is running for a municipal office which has no authority over the conflict in the Middle East.

We spoke to several individuals, both Jewish and others who are not, who expressed to us that Carbajal’s post was offensive to them. As one individual told us over the telephone, “I am not Jewish, but I know that post will anger someone,” she added “the last thing you want to do is anger anyone when running for office,” said Laura who asked that we use her first name only.

Edward Soloman, a 76-year-old resident of El Paso “and a member of the Jewish faith” sent us a two-page handwritten letter. In the letter Soloman wrote that this is the first time he comments “about a local politician” because after he “saw the post from Veronica Carbajal who is running for city council” he “thought it so disgusting” that he “needed to comment.”

Solomon wrote that “first of all,” Carbajal “is totally ignorant of the current situation in Israel and Gaza.” In a telephone conversation, professional photographer Brian Kanof echoed Solomon’s comments. Kanof told us that there are “so many things wrong” with the post, labelling it as a “stupid” post. Kanof added that “it is dangerous because someone like this could be elected.” Solomon, in closing wrote, “bottom line, you have the privilege of voting next month for any candidate but Carbajal seems clueless about a lot if she thinks like she posts.”

El Paso attorney Stuart Schwartz told us in a telephone conversation yesterday that Carbajal’s post is “curious” and “makes little sense to him,” but that it is “inappropriate for a campaign” post. Long time El Paso downtown business owner Gil Kimmelman was more succinct in an email to us. Kimmelman wrote “she is ignorant,” referring to Carbajal.

Several individuals of the Jewish community expressed that in addition to the inappropriateness of a city council candidate making a post on an official campaign channel is the lack of understanding of the complex history of the region. Kimmelman explained that “the Muslims have never accepted a 2 state [sic] solution,” adding “that is why they attacked Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and have committed thousands of terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis around the world.”

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Kimmelman added that “the barbaric attack of October 7 is just another expression of their [Hamas militants] rejection of a 2 state [sic] solution.” Kimmelman explained that “Muslims see Palestine as Islamic conquered land.” He added that “Mohammed [Muhammad] said that Islamic conquered land can never be surrendered/relinquished much less to a ‘Dhimmi’ people.” Kimmelman explained that “Dhimmi is the term used for a conquered/subjugated people i.e., the Jews, Christians, Kurds, Yazidis etc.” Kimmelman continued that “another part of the Quran he [Muhammad] tells his followers that THAT land belongs to the people of the book the Jews,” concluding that the prophet “made a lot of confusing statements.”

The issue wrote Kimmelman is that “what we are seeing in these protests is the ignorance of a large population that is easily gaslighted.” This was expressed by several others we discussed the post with. Kimmelman concluded his comments with “anyone who is so ignorant of Middle Eastern history is probably too ignorant to be serving on City Council or in government for that matter.”

El Paso firearms consultant Rodney Linkous wrote in an email to us that “Veronica Carbajal is not a good choice for city council since she seems to support terrorists and open borders.” Linkous added that “to call what’s happening in Gaza a genocide is being disingenuous since it doesn’t come close to fitting the description of genocide.” He concluded that Carbajal “forgets that there are 2 million Muslims living peacefully in Israel with many in government and the armed forces...if genocide were occurring, doesn’t she [Carbajal] think they would be suffering right now?”

Community advocate Wesley Lawrence, who ran against Joe Molinar in 2020, wrote to us in an email that “the immense suffering and violence that is being forced upon the people of Israel, Gaza, and West Bank is truly devastating and heartbreaking.” Lawrence added that “it’s important to be cognizant of the fact the tragic loss of Israeli lives on October 7th, 2023 was the deadliest attacks against Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

However, Lawrence added that “Veronica Carbajal is a voice for true progress in El Paso,” and that “she is a compassionate leader, someone who has a vision to fix our broken government systems caused by Bureaucrats funded by ‘funny money’, and someone who will always take a stand for what she believes is right!” Lawrence closed his comments with, “I know Vero stands united with the people of El Paso who have had enough of business as usual and I know she will be a voice for working class El Pasoan’s who have been long forgotten.”

Berna Anat And Jenan Matari

Carbajal stated in her email to us that she did not post the Instagram post but instead “shared a post created by someone else.” The original post seems to have been originally shared by Berna Anat , an author who has self-titled herself as a “financial hype woman.” Anat is a first generation Filipino American with immigrant parents. She argues that “marginalized communities” obtaining financial security face “systematic barriers.”

Carbajal referred viewers of the Instagram post she shared to a slide show curated by Jenan Matari. Matari’s slide show lists several organizations that manage aid to Palestine. According to a Forbes 2021 profile , Matari was born and raised in New Jersey by Palestinian refugees. Matari was among thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors who gathered on October 22 in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson “is home to the largest Palestinian American enclave in the country,” according to its local newspaper . Matari, who is a local blogger and a businesswoman, told the protestors that it “is their duty to carry the voices of ‘Palestinians of our past, wherever we go’.”

Since the war started, Palestinians in New Jersey have said they have been harassed and threatened . Matari is quoted by News12 as stating that the news outlets should “report the truth,” adding that the news should “tell them that Israel has had a brutal chokehold on Gaza for 16 years.” Matari, according to the news station added, “we are not sleeping. We are not eating. How can we when our brothers and sisters in Gaza are being collectively starved to death.”

However, Matari was quoted by New York’s PIX II as stating that “so often it’s overlooked how intertwined the Jewish and Muslim communities are; we experience the same hatred.” The outlet was reporting about the rising incidents of hate crimes against Jews and Muslims since the war began.

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In addition to requesting a comment from Carbajal, we also asked her opponents Josh Acevedo and Judy Gutierrez for their comments via email. We could not find any contact information for Ben Mendoza, so we were not able to ask for his comment. Acevedo did not respond to our request.

Gutierrez wrote that “these type of comments for support/opposition of global politics or conflicts do not belong in a municipal campaign.” She added that “as a potential future city council person, this post was grossly irresponsible, divisive and once again conveys the extreme beliefs of Ms. Carbajal.”

Early voting results for Monday and Tuesday show that 161 voters have cast ballots and 210 mail ballots were received by the Elections Department. Early voting runs through Tuesday, December 5. Election Day is December 9.

In her email response to El Paso News, Carbajal wrote that “anyone with concerns about the story I shared is welcome to reach out to me directly via email.” Contact information for the Carbajal Campaign can be found on her campaign website .

Each election cycle, El Paso News publishes the names of the political candidates that the technology company owned by Martín Paredes provides branding and technology services to. Although not required to, we provide this list to our readers for transparency purposes. Clients of Cognent have no influence over the stories we choose to cover.for more details.

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