Washington (AFP) – The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States.
The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job.
“All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,” the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X.
In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were “pro-HAMAS” and “affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar,” without providing evidence.
Loomer’s target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children – as well as their caregivers and siblings – arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.
It was “the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US,” the charity said on its website.
“Truly unacceptable,” Loomer wrote in another X post. “Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas.”
Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were “also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US.”
Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy.
“Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura,” he wrote on X.
In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later.
Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House.
We actually live in a timeline in which a psychopath rages about children getting medical care and politician psychopaths commend her for bringing it to their attention so they can put a stop to it.
This is the same woman who drunkenly tried to have sex with a nazi, asking him if he would have sex with her even though she was jewish
I vaguely remember something about this, not the entire story though.
“Are we the baddi-?”
YES, YOU’RE THE GODDAMN BADDIES!
I know it’s not really fitting as the comedy skit has the two realizing they’re on the evil side and in shock, whereas I think the people doing all this now totally understand what they’re doing and are rejoicing that they have the power to be evil.
This is like some alternate timeline. I read this whilst blinking repeatedly.
saved 11 Gazan children
this is unacceptable
Saving wounded and dieing children is “unacceptable”, and using ties to hamas as the excuse to ensure saving Gazan children never happens again.
Oh shit, healthcare - can’t have that just being handed out like candy in the US…the horror!
The evil and incompetence on display is genuinely staggering.
Loomer’s target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children – as well as their caregivers and siblings – arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.
Wow it’s somehow even worse than the headline
Making policies via Twitter posts must be one of those things I will never get used to as a democracy-enthusiast. But what do I know. This person can get some of the most qualified people for the job fired because…checks note…she “has the ear of the preesident”. No clue what that means, but after reading her resumee I doubt it has anything to do with her responsibility as an elected representative.
What are you guys doing over there? I am loosing the plot. Do you really think this will go away in 4 years?
I hate this timeline we are living in.
People are terrible
