Joe Biden’s campaign has disavowed Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, after she appeared at the Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly side event to the Democratic National Convention. On Tuesday, the Biden campaign attacked Sarsour over her support for the BDS movement, which seeks to boycott, sanction and divest from Israel over its treatment of Palestinians and its illegal occupation of the West Bank. Campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates told CNN, “Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism his entire life, and he obviously condemns her views and opposes BDS, as does the Democratic platform. She has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.”
On Wednesday, the DNC aired a video titled “America Rising: Women’s Suffrage to Women’s March” featuring footage of the movement that Linda Sarsour co-founded. She tweeted in response, “When the DNC uses footage of my labor at the Women’s March to make themselves seem relevant while throwing my communities under the bus. You can’t make this up.”
Meanwhile, Ady Barkan, the American Israeli lawyer with terminal ALS who was a featured speaker at the DNC on Tuesday, called the Biden campaign’s attack a “vile and dishonest statement.” Barkan tweeted, “Linda is a fierce advocate for justice and freedom, and a leading antiracist and organizer against antisemitism. The Biden campaign must retract and apologize.”