A Manhattan hearing on homeland security exploded yesterday after an Arab-American activist testified that she was taught as a youngster to “hate Jews” and “hate America,” enraging a Brooklyn lawmaker who gripped a Koran and grandly accused her of spreading “hate and poison.”
“Check what’s going on — it’s not a secret,” Nonine Darwish, president of Former Muslims United, said at a heavily policed state Senate hearing on homeland security at 250 Broadway.
“You’re supposed to hate Jews, you’re supposed to hate America, you’re supposed to hate Western culture,” said Darwish, who grew up and was educated in Egypt and came to the United States in 1978.
State Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) interrupted, holding up a copy of the Koran.
“This is offending this hearing by having her here,” Adams declared. “This is not our enemy . . . You’re bringing hate, hate and poison into a diverse country.”
Chairman Greg Ball (R-Putnam) instructed Adams to pipe down and suggested he was playing to the TV cameras.
“I’m glad no one is between those TV cameras and you because that’s the most dangerous place in New York City right now,” Ball said.
State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) tried to find middle ground.
“This, obviously, is her assessment how she was brought up in her life,” he said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the good Muslin Americans who live in this country.”