Anti Israel activist Linda Sarsour chided the Democratic Party for not promoting Muslim candidates during a keynote address on Saturday, arguing that politically involved Muslims are prone to attacks from "establishment Democrats."
Sarsour spoke extensively about her vision of social justice for the Muslim community at the Islamic Society of North America's 54th annual convention. She promoted the gubernatorial candidacy of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, telling the audience that he was holding a fundraiser and needs their money to support him against "the opposition," as well as the Democratic establishment.
"We gotta put our money where our mouths are," Sarsour said. "[El-Sayed] is taking a risk for our community and putting himself in public where he is going to be prone to attacks, and he is going to be prone by the opposition—and not just by the opposition, but from establishment Democrats who have never really opened their doors for people like us to succeed within the Democratic Party."
"He needs your money," she said after talking about spiritual support for El-Sayed.
Sarsour saved her main criticism for Republicans, however, particularly President Donald Trump. She said during her remarks that resisting Trump is a "form of jihad."
Sarsour also referred to an "Islamophobia industry" in which Americans physically harm Muslims because "they hate everything that you stand for." She discussed hate crimes against Muslims as an existential threat, using a hypothetical attack on a Muslim woman as an example.
"They don't stop her in the street and say, 'Excuse me, before I attack you, I would like to know if you are from Pakistan or Bangladesh or India,'" she said. "They don't care."
"Unity is about survival for the Muslim community," she said. "We will not survive as a community in the face of more adversity and a potentially horrific time that could come if we as a community are not united."
Sarsour, a pro-Palestinian activist, did not discuss the rates of hate crimes against Muslims, which are lower than those of such crimes against Jewish people. She said that Muslims could not win political power by only fighting for themselves, promoting her intersectional vision of social justice.
"We need to build coalitions, we need allies," she said, calling for engagement ranging from voter registration drives to donating to women's organizations. "Every single day, sisters and brothers, I dedicate my work and my life to aligning myself with communities who are marginalized and oppressed in this country."
Sarsour has drawn criticism for her anti-Israel views and her sympathetic statements toward Palestinian terrorists. When the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health invited her to speak at its 2017 commencement, 100 Holocaust survivors sent a protest letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.