Tamika Mallory Refuses To Say If Israel Has Right To Exist
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Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory refused to say in an interview on PBS if she thought Israel had the right to exist, or if Jews were indigenous there.
In an excerpt released Thursday by “Firing Line,” Mallory tried to explain her position to host Margaret Hoover, saying that “the Palestinians are native to the land.”
“There are people who have a number of sort of ideologies around why the Jewish people feel this should be their land,” she said. “I’m not Jewish. So for me to speak to that is not fair.”
Hoover pointed out that Mallory also is not Palestinian.
“Because I’m speaking of the people who we know are being brutally opposed in this moment,” Mallory answered. “That’s just the reality.”
Then Hoover asked whether she thinks Israel has the right to exist.
“I have said many times that I feel everyone has a right to exist,” Mallory said. “I just don’t feel that anyone has a right to exist at the disposal of another group.”
She added that “Palestinians are also suffering with a great crisis, and that there are other Jewish scholars who will sit here and say the same.”
The full interview will air on PBS stations Friday.
Mallory expressed similar exasperation in an interview earlier this week on The View where, after being pressed by Meghan McCain, she would not condemn Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has called Jews “termites” and praised Adolf Hitler.
The Women’s March will hold its third annual event Saturday. Support has waned due to the Farrakhan controversy, with many local chapters choosing to disaffiliate.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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