Image by Getty Images

Linda Sarsour, a Muslim civil rights activist, is facing charges of anti-Semitism after she helped organize the Women’s March on Washington.

“The anti-Semite who organized the ‘Women’s March on Washington,’” screamed a headline from David Horowitz’s Front Page Magazine.

The piece cited her opposition to Zionism, connection to family members who are supposedly imprisoned in Israel and endorsement of the BDS movement. Horowitz has been cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an Islamophobic extremist.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Other far-right blogs pointed to social media posts in which Sarsour, the head of the Arab American Association of New York, wrote favorably about Sharia (Islamic) law. In one message on Twitter, she praised Saudi Arabia’s family leave policies, writing, “10 weeks of PAID maternity leave in Saudi Arabia. Yes PAID. And ur worrying about women driving. Puts us to shame.”

Sarsour responded to the accusations on Facebook: “The opposition cannot fathom to see a Palestinian Muslim American woman that resonates with the masses.”

Whatever her feelings about Israel, Sarsour has spearheaded outreach efforts to New York’s Jewish community, praising Jews for backing Bernie Sanders and a push for Muslim holidays in public schools.

_Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon_

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount