Biden Can’t Have It Both Ways On Sarsour and Antisemitism

All presidents should listen to all faith and ethnic groups. But an open door to extremists and anti-Semites like Sarsour and CAIR gives the lie to Blinken’s previous statements about Israel and not tolerating anti-Semitism. Put simply, if Linda Sarsour is on your team, if her feelings are important to you and you say you want to include her in future discussions, you can’t also claim you are opposed to anti-Semitism.

Sarsour’s long record of incitement against Israel, Zionism and the Jews is a matter of record. The Palestinian-American activist is a heroine of the anti-Trump “resistance” for her work in organizing the massive anti-Trump march that occurred the day after his inauguration. But since then, she has become just as well known for her support for the anti-Semitic BDS movement as well as for Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, who is one of the nation’s leading hatemongers and those who back him. She made it clear that Jews who would not renounce Zionism and who supported Israel were not welcome in the Women’s March. She also attacked non-Jewish women like author Ayaan Hirsi Ali for her willingness to speak about the plight of women in Muslim societies in the most vulgar and violent terms imaginable.

The problem here is not just that a significant portion of the Democrats’ base accepts intersectional lies about the Palestinian war on Israel being morally equivalent to the struggle for civil rights in the United States. It’s that party leaders are too afraid of these voters to draw a clear line between Biden and haters like Sarsour or Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who won escaped censure from House Democratic leaders for their own anti-Semitic statements and were also endorsed for re-election by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Their fears are well-placed. It’s no secret that a key to the 2020 election is a huge and enthusiastic turnout of minority voters on the same scale as the one that lifted Barack Obama to two terms in the White House, but which failed to materialize in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. Democratic leaders know that insulting prominent anti-Semites like Omar, Tlaib and Sarsour can do them far more damage than statements that undermine their support in the Jewish community.

But Biden’s campaign still wants to have it both ways. That continued on Monday when senior Biden adviser Symone Sanders, who sat in on the apology to Sarsour, turned around and told JNS that, “We continue to reject the views that Linda Sarsour has expressed.”

That kind of double talk won’t shake the commitment of most Jewish Democrats to vote against Trump. But it does give the lie to the claims that Biden opposes anti-Semitism while Trump supports it. Of course, that smear had no validity anyway since Trump has repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism, has done more to fight it on college campuses than any president and has led the most pro-Israel administration in the country’s history.

Jews and pro-Israel Democrats can’t claim they weren’t warned. While they are getting lip service from Biden’s surrogates, they are also getting double-crossed by them. Instead of drawing a bright line between a well-known anti-Semite and the man currently leading in the polls to become the next president, Democrats are not dog-whistling to Jew-haters like Sarsour. They are making direct assurances that the White House door will be open to them next January.