ZOA: Jihadist, Jew Hater Linda Sarsour’s Speech was Call for Sedition, Violence Against Pres. Trump and U.S.
News Press Release
July 12, 2017

ZOA released the following statement:

At the convention last week of unindicted Hamas funding trial co-conspirator, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), jihadist Jew hater Linda Sarsour issued what was tantamount to a call for sedition, violence and national division, both against the Trump administration and against anyone else (including Muslim reformers) who do not share jihadist Sarsour’s views.  Sarsour urged “a form of jihad . . . struggle[e] against tyrants and rulers. . . here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”  Sarsour’s ISNA speech also teemed with other radical, war-like statements and themes, which demonstrated that her call for “jihad” referred to something far more savage than peaceful inner struggle or mere “words” against the democratically-elected President of the United States – whom Sarsour refers to as a “tyrant.”  

Note on “Intersectionality”:  It’s Really to Benefit Islamists and Allah:  During her ISNA speech, Sarsour perhaps unwittingly revealed the real reason she promotes “intersectional” alliances with other communities.  It’s not because Sarsour cares about women, African-Americans, Latinos or gays; her sole concern is Islam’s Allah.  As Sarsour told the ISNA audience: “our top priority. . . is to please Allah, and only Allah.”  Indeed, Sarsour previously demonstrated her hatred for fellow women when she tweeted that Lebanese-American Christian Brigitte Gabriel and former Muslim victim of female genital mutilation Ayaan Hirsi Ali are “asking 4 an a$$ whippin’,” and “I [Sarsour] wish I could take their vaginas away – they don’t deserve to be women.”

Sarsour now revealed during her ISNA speech that she has been attempting to enlist other groups to join with her in battle because the U.S. Muslim population alone is insufficient to “win” the United States. 

Sarsour: Muslim community’s priority is, “don’t assimilate or please any other people in authority… either you join my jihad or you’re an ally of the oppressors.”

Sarsour’s violence-inciting statements and themes at ISNA included the following:

“Anti-Normalization”:   

Jihadist Sarsour’s “anti-normalization” demand is a divisive, offensive tactic employed by Islamists to vilify, degrade and delegitimize others as not even worthy of regular interaction, relationship, or even normal conversation.  Rejectionist Arabs have practiced “anti-normalization” against Israel for decades.  On American college campuses, anti-Israel anti-Semitic Islamist groups such as “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) likewise promote “anti-normalization” – scorning normal contact and conversation with Jewish and pro-Israel students, and instead screaming epithets such as “Jews out of CUNY!” and “Zionists out of CUNY!” and “Death to the Jews!

Jihadist Sarsour’s Condemnation of Assimilation and Anyone Who Doesn’t Join Her Jihad: 

Another potentially violent theme jihadist Sarsour sounded at ISNA boils down to: “either you join my jihad, or you are an ally of the ‘oppressors.’”

Sarsour also proclaimed that the Muslim community’s priority “is NOT to assimilate and to please any other people in authority.” 

“Oppressors v. Oppressed”: 

Jihadist Sarsour mentioned “oppression,” “oppressed” and “oppressors” at least 14 times in her ISNA speech.  A Muslim audience would understand this use of “oppression” and “oppressed” as a call to violence.  Commentators, citing experts on Islam, noted regarding Sarsour’s portrayal of Trump as an “oppressor” that: 

Islam’s holy book, the Koran, frequently mentions ‘oppressors,’ and explicitly urges kill-or-be-killed war against ‘oppressors.’  For example, verse 2:193 in the Koran orders believers to ‘fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, Let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression.’”  (“Linda Sarsour Defends Her Call for Jihad Against President Donald Trump,” by Neil Munro, Breitbart, July 11, 2017.)

It is moreover perverse that jihadist Sarsour calls Muslims “oppressed” – while ignoring that Islamist terrorists are in fact the group that is oppressing, murdering and enslaving hundreds of thousands of innocent people around the world. (See the lengthy “List of Killings in the Name of Islam: 2017,” and lists for 2001 through 2016 at the same website).

Sarsour’s “Jihad”: 

The word “jihad” denotes violence.  “Mujahideen” (literally, “persons who wage jihad”) are “Islamic guerrilla fighters especially in the Middle East.”  (Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition & etymology.)  The U.S. State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations includes six terrorist groups whose names include the word “Jihad” or “Mujahideen.” 

Moreover, commentators, citing Islam experts and the former prosecutor of the Blind Sheikh, have explained regarding the phrase “word of truth,” that “for Muslim activists, truth is only found in the Koran’s transcribed instructions from Allah, which include his frequent calls for warfare against his enemies” and that jihadist Sarsour’s phrase “word of truth against a tyrant” was the defense used by Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman after he incited the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981 (after Sadat concluded a peace treaty with Israel).  (“Linda Sarsour Defends Her Call for Jihad Against President Donald Trump,” by Neil Munro, Breitbart, July 11, 2017.)

Praising 1993 World Trade Center Bombing Unindicted Co-Conspirator Imam Siraj Wahhaj: 

Near the beginning of her ISNA speech, jihadist Sarsour effusively praised an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Imam Siraj Wahhaj (a/k/a Jeffrey Kearse), saying:

My favorite person in this room is Imam Siraj Wahaaj, who has been a mentor and motivator of mine. . .  I’m grateful to you Imam Siraj.  May Allah bless you and protect you and keep you because our community needs you more than ever.”

Jihadist Sarsour’s mentor Imam Wahhaj endorses cruel and unusual Sharia punishments, violence, Islamist supremacy and conquest of America.  Wahhaj’s statements include:

–       “If Allah says 100 strikes, 100 strikes it is.  If Allah says cut off their hand, you cut off their hand.  If Allah says stone them to death, through the Prophet Muhammad, then you stone them to death, because it’s the obedience of Allah and his messenger—nothing personal.” 

–       “Islam is better than democracy.  Allah will cause his deen [Islam as a complete way of life], Islam to prevail over every kind of system.” 

–       “You came [to America] for one reason- for one reason only- to establish Allah’s deen [Islam as a complete way of life], as a servant of Allah.”

–       Muslims are “commanded to do jihad…Bis a billah Allah [jihad for the sake of Allah] is when Allah commands us to fight. . . . .Islam is the only answer because it is only Islam that we do it for Allah.”

–       “White people are devils.”

–       “I will never ever tell people don’t be violent that is not the Islamic way.  The violence has to be selected.”

–       “As long as you remember that if you get involved in politics, you have to be very careful that your leader is for Allah.  You don’t get involved in politics because it’s the American thing to do.  You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.”

–       “If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.  If we were united and strong, we would elect our own emir and give allegiance to him.  Take my word, if eight million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.”

–       “[W]hen Allah commands us to fight we are not stopping, no one will stop us.”

Wahhaj also testified on behalf of the convicted World Trade Center bomb plotters; called for killing adulterers and homosexuals; stated that disbelievers are “making the hearts of our children corrupt, dirty, foul,” and called the FBI and CIA the “real terrorists.” 

(See, e.g., Democrats Embrace Siraj Wahhaj: Supporter Of Cop-Killer, Al Qaeda And Hamas,” by Laura L. Rubenfeld, Frontpage Mag., Aug. 28, 2012 (and citations therein); “1993 WTC ‘Plotter’ in Mike Meet,” by Sally Goldenberg, NY Post, Nov. 12, 2009; Wahhaj’s Wikipedia listing; “American Islam’s Most Extreme Conference,” by Samuel Westrop, Gatestone Institute, May 18, 2017; and “Linda Sarsour’s All-Star Team of Radical Theologians,” IPT News.) 

Sarsour’s praise of the violence-inciting Wahhaj as her “mentor and motivator” further evidences the seditious, violent nature of Sarsour’s call for jihad.

Our Mission
ZOA STATEMENT
The ZOA speaks out for Israel – in reports, newsletters, and other publications. In speeches in synagogues, churches, and community events, in high schools and colleges from coast to coast. In e-mail action alerts. In op-eds and letters to the editor. In radio and television appearances by ZOA leaders. Always on the front lines of pro-Israel activism, ZOA has made its mark.
Center for Law & Justice
We work to educate the American public and Congress about legal issues in order to advance the interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
We assist American victims of terrorism in vindicating their rights under the law, and seek to hold terrorists and sponsors of terrorism accountable for their actions.
We fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media and on college campuses.
We strive to enforce existing law and also to create new law in order to safeguard the rights of the Jewish people in the United States and Israel.