After The Forward, a leftist site that covers Jewish issues, issued a fundraising statement touting its coverage of anti-Semitism in the wake of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic statements, leftist icon, Women’s March leader, and famed lover of the Jewish people Linda Sarsour decided to tell Jews exactly which Jewish organizations met her standards and thus were the best organizations to support.
Sarsour tweeted, “Instead of donating to The Forward, support the work of progressive Jewish organizations on the front lines: @JFREJNYC @jewishaction @jvplive @jewsofcolor & I am sure there are many others. They make the progressive left whole.”
Why Jews should listen to Sarsour remains a mystery; her history is redolent with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic behavior, as has been amply documented. Where should we begin?
Let’s start in 2012, when Sarsour tweeted, “Nothing is creepier than Zionism.”
Moving on; in March 2017 Sarsour told The Nation:
When you talk about feminism you’re talking about the rights of all women and their families to live in dignity, peace, and security. And Israel is a country that continues to occupy territories in Palestine, has people under siege at checkpoints—we have women who have babies on checkpoints because they’re not able to get to hospitals [in time]. It just doesn’t make any sense for someone to say, “Is there room for people who support the state of Israel and do not criticize it in the movement?” There can’t be in feminism.
October 2017: at a “social justice” rally in New York, Sarsour bellowed, ““We will not be intimidated by right-wing-Zionists, by white supremacists, by racists.”
In November 2017, appearing at a panel discussion about anti-Semitism, Sarsour spoke of the “Jewish media,” complaining that the “Jewish media” was singling her out along with anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan. She also said that the real “existential threat” to Jews was President Trump, who in reality has been the strongest defender of Israel of any president since its founding in 1948. Sarsour stated:
So what I hope what you get from this conversation is this: I don’t care who you are, Jewish or not Jewish, we all must commit to dismantling anti-Semitism, and that the existential threat resides in the White House in the highest offices of these lands. And if you’re reading all day long, morning and night, in the Jewish media, is that Linda Sarsour and Minister Farrakhan are the existential threat to the Jewish community, something really bad has happened and we’re going to miss the mark on it.
October 2018: speaking at the annual Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention in Houston, Texas, Sarsour railed against any attempt to “humanize” Israelis, saying, “So when we start debating in the Muslim community about Palestine, it tells me a lot about you and about the type of faith that you have in your heart. If you’re on the side of the oppressor, or you’re defending the oppressor, or you’re actually trying to humanize the oppressor, then that’s a problem sisters and brothers, and we got to be able to say: ‘That is not the position of the Muslim American community.'”
But sure, Jews should take advice from her.