The student activists who confronted Chelsea Clinton at a vigil in New York City for victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings on Friday said that Clinton's comments concerning Rep. Ilhan Omar Ilhan OmarOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Democrats scramble on COVID-19 relief amid division, Trump surprise MORE's (D-Minn.) criticism of the Israel lobby "made her vulnerable" to threats and criticism from the right, and contributed to Friday's shooting.

In a BuzzFeed op-ed posted Saturday, Rose Asaf and Leen Dweik argued that they spoke to Clinton in a now-viral video clip because they "saw an opportunity to have her ear and confront her on her false charge of anti-Semitism against our only Black, Muslim, Somali, and refugee member of Congress." Omar is the first member of Congress to wear a headscarf on the House floor, and came to America as a refugee from her home country of Somalia in 1995.

ADVERTISEMENT

"We took our chance to speak truth to power," the activists wrote. "Chelsea hurt our fight against white supremacy when she stood by the petty weaponizers of antisemitism, showing no regard for Rep. Omar and the hatred being directed at her."

"Many have said it was unfair to connect Chelsea’s words to the massacre in Christchurch," they continued, addressing criticism the activists received on Twitter.

"To them, we say that anti-Muslim bigotry must be addressed wherever it exists. This is not about left and right. This is about people who do and do not have power, and how those with power use it."

The two students then addressed Clinton directly, asking her to apologize to Omar and the Palestinian community for comments Clinton made accusing Omar of using "anti-Semitic language" in a discussion about the Israel lobby.

"To Chelsea Clinton: We hope that our intentions in confronting you are now clear. We believe that you still owe an apology: not only to Rep. Omar, but also to Palestinians for using your platform to defame their cause," they wrote.

Clinton has not yet responded publicly to the video, which was posted late Friday night.