Women’s March Founder Calls on Sarsour, Mallory to Step Down Over Anti-Semitism

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Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Deborah Brand

TEL AVIV – Women’s March co-founder Teresa Shook called on the movement’s co-leaders, including Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, to resign Monday, saying they perpetuate anti-Semitism.

In a Facebook post, Shook said Mallory and Sarsour, as well as other leaders Bob Bland and Carmen Perez, “have steered the Movement away from its true course,” and cited Mallory and Sarsour’s continued ties to anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

“In opposition to our Unity Principles, they have allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs,” Shook wrote.

Mallory and Sarsour refused to condemn Farrakhan even after the former shared a stage with the Nation of Islam leader during an event in which he declared “the powerful Jews are my enemy.” He has compared Jews to termites, Satan, and called for the death of Israel and America during a trip to Iran last month.

Mallory, Sarsour, Bland and Perez issued a response on Facebook saying they weren’t going anywhere and that Shook acted “irresponsibly.”

Actress Alyssa Milano has announced she will not participate in next year’s Women’s March, citing the leaders’ association with Farrakhan.

“Any time that there is any bigotry or anti-Semitism in that respect, it needs to be called out and addressed. I’m disappointed in the leadership of the Women’s March that they haven’t done it adequately,” Milano said.

A German NGO last week nixed an award to the Women’s March, singling out Sarsour, a Palestinian-American, for spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including the claim that when US police officers shoot unarmed black people, Jewish people responsible lurk in the background.

Sarsour also reportedly suggested American Jewish liberals have dual loyalties and put Israel above democratic values.

The American Jewish Committee responded by saying, “Accusing Jews of dual loyalty is one of the oldest and most pernicious antisemitic tropes.”

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