Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, has addressed a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressing his “shock and horror” that leftist sharia advocate and alleged terrorist supporter Linda Sarsour was tapped by CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health & Public Policy as their commencement speaker, urging him to cancel her appearance at the taxpayer-funded university.
“Sarsour is a bigot and a divider,” Klein wrote. “It disgraces the state and city of New York for a taxpayer-funded university to confer this honor on her.” He noted that “CUNY of all places should not be elevating and honoring Linda Sarsour, given the recent appalling revelations of anti-Semitism on several CUNY campuses,” and he pointed out that “Sarsour’s values conflict with American values.”
Barbara Aaron, chief of staff to CUNY Graduate School of Public Health dean Ayman El-Mohandes, told The Daily Caller, “I am delighted to confirm that Linda Sarsour will indeed speak at our June 1 commencement at the Apollo Theater.”
In his letter, Klein went on to list several reasons that should disqualify Sarsour from delivering the keynote speak at CUNY. He explained:
Sarsour openly supports the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. She also opposes the right of the Jewish State of Israel to exist, expressing her unbridled hatred on Twitter with statements such as “Nothing is creepier than Zionism” and “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is a waste of a human being.”
Furthermore, Klein points out that Sarsour praises the act of young Arab children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers as “the definition of courage.”
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) similarly chastised Sarsour in a video message last week, asking her to explain her support for terrorism. “You think this is a courageous act; to pick up rocks and throw them at cars?” Hikind posited.
In 2013, a two-year-old girl went into a coma after Palestinians pelted the car she was in with rocks, forcing the car to crash. Adele Biton was in a coma for two years before succumbing to her injuries and developing pneumonia. She died when she was four.
Klein noted that, after receiving “justifiable backlash from New York City Council Member Rory Lancman and others, Sarsour tweeted, ‘The Zionist trolls are out to play. Bring it.’ Sarsour also tweeted her support for the intifada – the term for the Palestinian Arab terror war against Jews in Israel – describing it as ‘invaluable on many fronts,'” Klein wrote.
Klein also reminded Cuomo that Sarsour said she was “honored and privileged” to share a stage with convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who will soon be deported from the United States for allegedly committing immigration fraud and falsifying papers when entering America after she was freed during a prisoner-swap.
In an interview with The Nation, Sarsour suggested feminism and Zionism are incompatible, which quickly drew criticism from women who consider themselves both feminists and Zionists.
And in a tweet that has since been deleted, Sarsour expressed a desire to see Islam critics Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali lose “their vaginas” for their opposition to sharia law.
Former President Barack Obama called Sarsour a “champion of change,” and Times listed her in its “100 most influential people.”
In conclusion, Klein wrote: “CUNY of all places should not be elevating and honoring Linda Sarsour, given the recent appalling revelations of anti-Semitism on several CUNY campuses… Instead, CUNY is showing breathtaking insensitivity by honoring and giving a prominent podium to a bigot, and someone who is using women’s issues to ostracize Jews and other Israel supporters from the fight for women’s rights and equality.
Please do all that you can to ensure that CUNY rescinds the speaking invitation to Linda Sarsour. There are many truly inspiring leaders worthy of the honor of speaking at a CUNY commencement. Linda Sarsour is not one of them.”
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