Women’s march organizer Linda Sarsour has found herself in the news again, this time for an ostensibly selfless act of extreme kindness towards the Jewish community in the wake of the Jewish cemetery desecration in St Louis Missouri.
A Palestinian-American activist who has voiced support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help repair a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery where at least 170 gravestones were toppled over the weekend.
Linda Sarsour, who played a prominent role in organizing the Women’s March on Washington following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January and was a leading surrogate for US Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primaries, started the fundraising campaign with activist Tarek El-Messidi to raise $20,000 for repairs.
As of Wednesday morning, the crowdfunding effort had brought in more than $56,000, close to three times Sarsour and El-Massidi’s intended target.
They said any remaining funds after the cemetery is restored would go toward repairs to other vandalized Jewish centers.
“Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America,” the activists wrote. “We pray that this restores a sense of security and peace to the Jewish-American community who has undoubtedly been shaken by this event.”
Sarsour, who has said the labeling of her as a Hamas supporter by conservative groups in the US is an attempt to tarnish her work, told the Haaretz daily that she is “a critic of the State of Israel. I always will be. I have come out in full support of BDS.”
Note the tone of the report in the Times of Israel – those opposing her have been doing so only “in an attempt to tarnish her work.” This is indicative of how untouchable she once again seems to be, after having her hypocrisy and vile views exposed – and liberal Jews are among her strongest supporters.
But what is truly behind Sarsour’s fundraising campaign to repair the Jewish cemetery?
I believe we can find the answer by paying attention to what Sarsour has been telling her fellow Muslims – as opposed to the media and those gullibly swallowing the lies she has been feeding them.
At a CAIR banquet last year, Sarsour spoke about helping marginalized peoples, providing some stories as examples, including co-chairing a march after the death of Eric Garner, providing a mosque for non-Muslim protesters to sleep at, and Muslims helping people in Flint Michigan in the wake of the water crisis.
The relevant section is about 10 minutes long, but hearing it is critical in understanding how strategic and calculated her “good deeds” towards non-Muslims are.
If you do not have the patience to sit through the whole thing, listen from 10:50 and 14:20.
Sarsour says it loudly and clearly.
By helping non-Muslims and marginalized groups, they will be “the staunchest supporters and best defenders of Islam against Islamophobia.”
In other words, showing this kindness and support is a way to get people on the side of Muslims, and not because it is the right thing to do. What’s in it for Islam? The support comes with strings and expectations attached to it. We help you and you will be our future cheerleaders.
Compare this to the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam (the actual concept, and not the corrupted one espoused by Richard Silverstein) which is about doing good deeds because it is the right thing to do.
Sarsour’s fundraising for the Jewish community seems to be a PR stunt straight from her own playbook. And not just for Muslims in general, but also Sarsour personally, who has been reeling from the exposure of her misdeeds, and is engaging in damage control as she prepares herself for what looks like a political career.
Linda Sarsour, a Bay Ridge political activist whose public profile has been raised to a national level thanks in part to her role in organizing the historic Women’s March on Washington last month, is leaving her job as executive director of the Brooklyn-based Arab American Association of New York (AAANY).
Sarsour, who served at the helm of the association for 11 years, announced her decision to leave her post in a letter to the group’s supporters and community members on Tuesday.
“We are in a critical moment as a country and I feel compelled to focus my energy on the national level and building the capacity of the progressive movement, so it is with a heavy heart that I announce that I will be leaving my post as the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York,” Sarsour wrote.
Sarsour said she plans to continue living in Brooklyn and will remain active in the Arab-American community in Brooklyn but that the election of Donald Trump has necessitated that she become more active on a national level.
She also indicated that she is thinking of writing a book.
I feel genuinely bad for the many good people who contributed to her campaign, including supporters of Israel. There is a real cost with every dollar she raises, as her own personal currency increases.
She should not be lauded for her latest act, which I believe is a cynical attempt to curry favor. If she was sincerely worried about the Jewish community and the scourge of antisemitism, she would not be contributing to it by spreading hatred towards Israel and promoting the boycott of the world’s only Jewish homeland. Nor would she be associating with Jew haters.
I guess as her fundraising campaign shows, she sure loves dead Jews more than living ones.
