Actress Rosanna Arquette apologized for her March 17 tweet alleging that Israel knew about the coronavirus outbreak for a year and put “lives at risk for profit.”
The initial tweet, which has since been deleted, read: “So Israel has been working on a coronavirus vaccine for a year already? (so they knew it) Vaccines take a long time to know if they are safe and KUSHNER OSCAR is the major investor in the new vaccine that is supposedly coming here. Lives at risk for profit.”
“KUSHNER OSCAR” is a reference to Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump and his son-in-law. Josh Kushner, Jared’s brother co-founded Oscar, a health care company that helps locate coronavirus testing centers.
After receiving criticism for the tweet, Arquette — who is Jewish — apologized.
“I’m sorry I’ve offended my Jewish family and friends and Israel with my negative careless words,” she tweeted. “What can I say except I’m sorry. We are all in a lot of fear right now and there’s so much toxic, misleading and confusing information. I am sorry.”
https://twitter.com/RoArquette/status/1240136527889530881?s=20
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper praised Arquette’s apology in a statement.
“Appreciate [the] heartfelt apology,” he said. “We have enough problems with real enemies demonizing Israel and Jewish people.”
Pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky, on the other hand, didn’t buy the apology.
“Negative careless words? It was more than that,” he tweeted in a reply to Arquette’s apology tweet. “It was sheer Jew hatred of the worst kind. And to abuse #CoronaVirus tragedy like this only made it worse. Sorry, but there’s nothing ‘misleading’ or ‘confusing’ about your #Antisemitism!”
Negative careless words? It was more than that. It was sheer Jew hatred of the worst kind. And to abuse #CoronaVirus tragedy like this only made it worse. Sorry, but there’s nothing ‘misleading’ or ‘confusing’ about your #Antisemitism! pic.twitter.com/m3ZPfIuDAA
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 18, 2020
Arquette is known for her roles in the movies “Pulp Fiction” and “The Whole Nine Yards,” among others.
