A popular Dubai-based restaurateur has come under fire for sharing an anti-Palestine video.
Emma Sawko, co-founder of well-known vegan restaurant Wild & The Moon, as well as organic café Comptoir 102 in Dubai, issued an apology this week after a sharing the video.
According to The National, the video in question Sawko shared was produced by an American conservative group, PragerU which was titled “My Life in Israel as an Arab Muslim”.
The clip shared by the restaurateur is part of a series called Stories From Us, and featured a woman named Sophia Salma Khalifa, who claimed to be “the first Muslim Arab to enroll in the Israel Defense Forces’ Atuda programme in electrical engineering”.
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The conservative group claims it promotes “American values through the creative use of educational videos”, while providing “a free alternative to dominant left wing ideologies.” But it has been claimed in a previous report by Education Week that PragerU is known to “promote mistruths about climate change, slavery and a whole host of other things.”
After drawing much criticism for her promotion of the video, Emma took to Instagram to offer an apology on Tuesday.
“I am sorry for the post I re-shared,” she said to her 53,000 followers on the platform. “I was standing by the fact that we must find a way towards peace, and this is the only message I have been meaning to convey.
“I am deeply shaken by the loss of innocent Palestinian lives and as the conflict extends over time, as the situation gets direst by the day, as the anguish grows, I also feel our hearts harden and I feel we are losing the ability to communicate and find the ways towards peace and dialogue.”
Sawko added the hashtags “standing against genocide” and “ceasefire now”. She also currently has comments on the post and others turned off.
However, many have taken to Wild & The Moon’s Instagram page to declare they are now “boycotting” the café, with many comment stating “free Palestine”.
Per The National, she also shared a series of videos in which she expressed remorse for posting the now-deleted clip. “This was the wrong thing to do and I regret it deeply,” she said in one video while holding back tears. “There was no malignant intent.”
“There is no way any human being can stay in a country for as long as I have been without respecting, loving and supporting the people and the country. I deeply love this place and if I have a hope it’s that this will be forgiven one day and that we go back to be what we was. I am sorry,” she reportedly also said in the clips.
