A few days ago, I posted about allegations that Linda Sarsour enabled the sexual assault of a female colleague.
BuzzFeed News has a new piece defending Sarsour, who naturally denies the allegations. Or at least that is her intent – because she, in fact, confirms some of the most damning of them!
Sarsour said she’s “dumbfounded” by Fathelbab’s version of what happened. As referenced in the documents Sarsour provided, she gave ACCESS an affidavit dated Aug. 13, 2009. Sarsour defended Seif in the statement and wrote that it was Fathelbab who was creating a hostile environment by telling coworkers stories of alleged harassment.
Sarsour told ACCESS she’d looked into the claims and found “no substantial evidence or any testimonies from anyone about the alleged accusations.” Even so, Sarsour continued, she talked with Seif about the claims and asked him to stay “as far away as possible” from Fathelbab to avoid worsening the issue. Seif denied Fathelbab’s claims at the time, and he does to to this day. Sarsour said she’d considered the matter settled — until hearing five months later that Fathelbab had told ACCESS about the claims.
If you recall the allegations mentioned in the Daily Caller story:
Allegations of groping and unwanted touching were allegedly brought to Sarsour during her time as executive director of the Arab American Association. In response, Sarsour, a self-proclaimed champion of women, attacked the woman bringing the allegations, often threatening and body-shaming her, these sources alleged. The most serious allegations were dismissed, Asmi Fathelbab, the alleged victim told The Daily Caller, because the accused was a “good Muslim” who was “always at the Mosque.”
So Sarsour has confirmed:
- Asmi did in fact make the complaints to her
- She dismissed the complaints – choosing instead to believe Seif – and attacked Asmi
Does this sound like the conduct of a poster child for feminism – or even a decent human being? Aren’t we supposed to take the allegations of the alleged victim seriously?
It should not matter even if there was “no substantial evidence or any testimonies from anyone about the alleged accusations.” The very nature of sexual assault allegations is the lack of substantial evidence – direct or corroborative. Yet it behooves us to take such allegations seriously, and certainly not to side with the alleged perpetrator.
So thank you, Linda, for confirming you are a fraud.
