Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the views of former Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour, who has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism, after she participated in a Democratic National Convention council meeting on Tuesday.
Sarsour, a Muslim activist who endorsed Biden after he announced Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) as his running mate last week, spoke at the DNC’s “Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly” on Tuesday, sparking disapproval in light of her history of controversial comments on Jews and Israel.
“Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism his entire life, and he obviously condemns her views and opposes BDS, as does the Democratic platform,” Biden spokesman Andrew Batessaid, according to CNN’s Jake Tapper. “She has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.”
Bates then pointed out that the official Democraticplatformsays, “We oppose any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.”
Sarsour apologized in 2018 for failing to condemn anti-Semitism among march organizers and then stepped down from her role as co-chair one year later due to anti-Semitic comments.
“Sarsour is the one who stands with terrorists and bigots, including Louis Farrakhan. Sarsour shared a platform with and praised Rasmea Odeh – a Palestinian-Arab terrorist responsible for murdering Jewish students; praised an Arab kid holding rocks to throw at Israelis as ‘the definition of courage,’ and tweeted her support for the intifada – the knifing, bombing and shooting campaigns in which Palestinian-Arab terrorists murdered and maimed 12,000 Jews,” a Zionist Organization of Americastatementsaid in August 2019.
The march’s co-president Tamika Mallory, who was similarly ousted over anti-Semitic controversy, also spoke at the DNC at a virtual meeting of the Democratic Black Caucus on Monday.
Mallory attended an address by anti-Semitic nation of Islam leader Louis Farrkahn in 2018,during which Farrakhan labeled Jews “satanic” and called them his “enemy.” Mallory posted on social media after the event that Farrakhan was the “GOAT,” or greatest of all time. She laterrefused to denounceFarrakhan in January 2019, leading the DNC to drop its sponsorship of the Women’s March.