The Women's March has cut ties with three inaugural co-chairs after accusations of anti-Semitism rocked the far-left organization, while adding a new one who compared Israel to the Islamic State and another who questioned Israel's legitimacy.
Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Bob Bland all stepped down from the Women's March board last month, following a year of turmoil for the protest group that formed in response to President Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, the Washington Post reported.
Tablet reported last year Mallory and fellow Women's March leader Carmen Perez claimed at a November 2016 meeting that Jews were leaders of the American slave trade and bore special responsibility as exploiters of black people. Mallory and Bland denied such a conversation took place.
It further reported Mallory berated March leader Vanessa Wruble with anti-Semitic canards, such as suggesting Jews control the world's money, in a January 2017 debriefing following the inaugural march.
Mallory also came under fire for her friendship with anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. She has referred to him as the "GOAT" or "Greatest of All Time" and attended an event where he spoke. Asked on The View if she condemned his numerous bigoted remarks, she said it wasn't her "language" but refused to explicitly condemn them. Bland, according to Tablet, joined Mallory and Perez in defending Farrakhan's anti-Semitic language in a phone call with march organizers, citing his work on behalf of minorities.
Sarsour, a Palestinian-American known for her rabid opposition to Israel, has since joined the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) as a surrogate. Sarsour supports the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement against Israel, which has been condemned as anti-Semitic by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.).
Sarsour also has ties to Farrakhan, and has stated "nothing is creepier than Zionism." She also defended Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) even as Democrats rebuked the congresswoman this year for repeated anti-Semitic comments.
Women's March founder Teresa Shook wrote in a November Facebook post that Sarsour, Bland, Mallory, and Perez should resign, saying they had allowed anti-Semitism and homophobia to permeate the group.
Tensions have risen in the organization as high-profile women have received attention that others in the group say discounts the efforts of local organizers.
The Women's March announced 16 new board members, one of whom, Zahra Billoo, has attacked Israel as a "terrorist state" indistinguishable from ISIS.
Billoo, a civil rights lawyer and executive director of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has accused the U.S. and Israel of enabling terrorism in tweets shared by the Daily Wire's Ryan Saavedra.
This tweet here is a call for the destruction of Israel pic.twitter.com/Hnqmu7jtC9
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2019
Billoo thinks Israel and ISIS are the same pic.twitter.com/TKJLToKmRJ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2019
Compares the American government to ISIS pic.twitter.com/UaHLJXOggF
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2019
MORE (II): pic.twitter.com/A6sjnZlNJO
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2019
will not renounce jihad, khilafah or sharia. #MPAC14
— Zahra Billoo (@ZahraBilloo) December 14, 2014
Another new board member, Palestinian-American activist Samia Assed, has questioned Israel's existence and declared it effectively illegitimate.
Zahra will be joined by Samia Assed: pic.twitter.com/phu0jT2qoG
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 16, 2019