A new report in the Jewish News Syndicate and Haaretz claims that the Democratic National Committee, a longtime partner of the Women’s March, has pulled their sponsorship of this year’s event.
The Women’s March has not confirmed the loss, but the Democratic National Committee is no longer listed as an official sponsor on their website.
JNS reports that a “Democratic source” confirmed to them that the DNC pulled out of the Women’s March over allegations that at least three of the group’s leaders — Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez, expressed anti-Semitic sentiments during the organization’s early days, bullied Jewish women out of Women’s March leadership roles, and associated closely with the National of Islam (and its radical preacher, Louis Farrakhan).
A series of exposés in conservative media, in Tablet, and in The New York Times revealed that Mallory, in particular, made critical comments about Jewish organizers’ involvement with the group. Tablet revealed financial links between the national Women’s March leadership and radical groups and documented how the Women’s March often hired the Nation of Islam to provide security for key figures, including Linda Sarsour, at events.
Mallory was revealed, even before the pair of blockbuster reports, to have a close association with the anti-Semitic Farrakhan, regularly praising him on social media and appearing at Farrakhan’s “Savior’s Day” event in Chicago earlier this year. Mallory was in the audience as Farrakhan compared Jews to the offspring of Satan.
Mallory has never apologized for her association with Farrakhan and as recently as Monday refused to condemn the preacher’s blatant anti-Semitism.
In an appearance on The View, Mallory refused to distance herself from Farrakhan and instead excused the leader’s hatred, credtiing Farrakhan for “great work” in black communities.
“To be very clear, it’s not my language,” Mallory told host Meghan McCain when McCain pressed her on the issue. “It’s not the way that I speak; it’s not how I organize. And I think it is very clear over the 20 years of my own personal activism, my own personal track record, who I am, and I should never be judged through the lens of a man.”
Previously, the Women’s March issued similar lukewarm “apologies.”
The DNC has been a key ally of the Women’s March in the past, encouraging the group’s voter registration drives and midterm voter turnout initiatives. Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez was even a keynote speaker at the 2018 March in Washington, D.C.
The Jewish Democratic Committee of America was the first to publicly applaud the DNC for severing ties with Sarsour, Mallory, and Perez.
“JDCA supports the objectives of the Women’s March and stands with sister marches across the country this weekend,” its executive director told JNS. “At the same time, we welcome the DNC, SPLC, Emily’s List and other organizations’ decision to not sponsor and participate in the Women’s March and take a principled stand against anti-Semitism.”
In recent days, a number of major left-leaning entities have pulled their support from the Women’s March, including Moms Demand Action, the Human Rights Campaign, Greenpeace, EMILY’s List, NARAL, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the National Council of Jewish Women. Marches in New Orleans and Chicago were cancelled over the allegations of anti-Semitism.
Only the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the American Federation of Teachers remain as “major” partners for the 2019 March set to take place on Saturday.