WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Democratic National Committee member who likened Israeli West Bank policies to apartheid and slavery has apologized and resigned.
Emails sent in 2011 by Evelyn Garcia that were made public after they were passed on this week to South Florida Democrats included the claim that "Slavery was ended, apartheid was ended and so this occupation must end."
In another email, Garcia said the Palestinians were made to suffer a "guilt trip" for the Holocaust.
"I deeply resent U.S. taxpayer funds being used to continue Israeli aggression," she said.
It was not clear to whom the emails were sent, the Palm Beach Post reported Monday.
Garcia, a Haitian-American elected to the DNC in 2008, resigned the post and apologized in separate statements to the Post and to the DNC.
"In passionately advocating my position supporting the rights of people I felt were being harmed, I used language that I now regret,” she said in her resignation statement. “The gist of the conversation had to do with my concern for innocent people being oppressed, but such support for the oppressed does not diminish my support for the good people of Israel.”
To the Post, she wrote, "I apologize to anyone I offended and to my friends in the Democratic Party, in particular, members of the Jewish faith whom I have worked with for years."
Garcia is still one of four candidates running for the Florida House from the district, which includes West Palm Beach and Rivera Beach.
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