GEICO Disinvites Linda Sarsour, She and CAIR Proceed to Rage

As Elder of Ziyon puts it: “Insurance company GEICO invited bigot Linda Sarsour to speak during an internal Middle East Heritage Month meeting set up by their Diversity and Inclusion department.” It did so with those Diversity-and-Inclusion mavens apparently failing to do the obvious bit of due diligence. That is, they failed to do an Internet search for “Linda Sarsour.” Had they done so, GEICO would never have invited her in the first place, and saved itself a world of woe. Lesson to all companies even thinking of inviting controversial Muslim speakers: look into who they support, and who supports them.

After having invited Sarsour, one of the most vicious of anti-Israel and antisemitic activists, to a company celebration of “Middle East and North Africa” employees, GEICO faced a torrent of criticism by both Jewish and non-Jewish groups and individuals. They presented evidence of Sarsour’s bigotry. In the face of this, and having been better informed about Sarsour’s morally squalid history, GEICO reconsidered, and with this statement explained why it had decided to disinvite her:

We apologize to our employees, customers, and others for our initial plan to invite Linda Sarsour to speak at our internal event celebrating Middle East and North African Heritage Month. On Tuesday, we quickly canceled the event.

Geico does not condone hatred of any kind, and we do not stand for or with anyone who does.

We are not aligned with any form of exclusion.

Here’s a report on the latest Sarsour brouhaha: “Linda Sarsour claims Geico is Islamophobic for canceling her hate speech on Ramadan,” Elder of Ziyon, April 10, 2022. Elder of Ziyon notes:

Given Sarsour’s record – supporting antisemite Louis Farrakhan, invoking “Jewish supremacy,” saying Zionists cannot be feminists, and supporting Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, this is an accurate representation of her views. Beyond that, she has publicly praised a misogynist and anti-gay Muslim cleric, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, as her mentor.

Sarsour finds Louis Farrakhan, the man who rants endlessly about “Satanic Jews,” to be “too blessed.”

Sarsour has claimed that Jesus was not a Jew, but a “brown-skinned Palestinian.” I fully expect her to at some point claim that Jesus was a “Muslim,” if she hasn’t done it already.

She talks about “Jewish supremacy” — by that meaning that Jews regard themselves as superior to all others, but offers no evidence to support this fantastical claim. The only religious supremacists of which I am aware are Muslims, who learn in the Qur’an that they “are the best of peoples” (3:110), while non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings.” (98:6). Linda Sarsour hasn’t yet been asked to discuss those two Qur’anic verses, but perhaps GEICO, should it reply to those who, like CAIR, criticize it for disinviting Sarsour, will take the opportunity to mention these verses. That will send CAIR and Sarsour into a frenzy, but what can they do? Deny that those verses are in the Qur’an?

Sarsour has tweeted support for the imprisoned Palestinian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad Allan, a known recruiter of suicide bombers. She attended a farewell party for Rasmea Odeh, who had just been let out of an American prison, where she had been incarcerated after serving a 10-year sentence in Israel. Odeh was a member of the terror group PFLP; she masterminded a 1969 bombing that killed two Jews in a Jerusalem food market. In other words, Sarsour saw nothing wrong in celebrating the freeing of a terrorist murderer.

Sarsour has famously said that “nothing is creepier than Zionism” and has described the support for a Jewish homeland to be “racism.” Robert Spencer notes that “during a Feb. 23, 2012 interview with Russia TV, Sarsour claimed that ‘Islamophobia’ today is a continuation of the genocide of native Americans and the slavery of African Americans.” “This has happened throughout the history of our country; our country was based on, you know, genocide on native Americans, based on slavery, racial profiling has existed for centuries in this community,” she said. Sarsour has also said that the American government was behind the assassination of Malcolm X (he was killed by followers of Elijah Muhammad).

In 2017, in a speech to the Islamic Society of North America, Linda Sarsour called for Muslims in the United States to conduct Jihad:

I hope that … when we stand up to those who oppress our communities, that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad … here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House…

To “stand up to those who oppress us…as a form of Jihad” surely means to use any and all means, including violence, in conducting this jihad against those who “oppress us.”

In Linda Sarsour’s view, the American government was genocidal in the past toward blacks (so what was the Civil War all about?) and Native Americans, and today exhibits the same attitudes toward those inoffensive, peaceful, unfairly put-upon Muslims. Those who remember the terrorist atrocities carried out by Muslims on 9/11 at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania, or since then, the Muslim terrorists who struck in New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Fort Hood, San Bernardino, Little Rock, Chattanooga, Orlando, and other places, may not agree that they have been altogether “inoffensive” and “peaceful.” 

And if we cared to look abroad, what conclusions might we draw about Islam from Muslim terrorist attacks in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris (many times), Toulouse, Nice, Magnanville, St. Etienne-du-Rouvray, London (many times), Manchester, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Wurzburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Malmo, Helsinki, Turku, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Beslan? Linda Sarsour insists that any worry about Islam can only be explained as the result of Islamophobia. Is it really irrational to be anxious about Islam, when we see all those attacks in North America and Europe, or see the roster of terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Al Shebaab, Boko Haram, Islamic Jihad, Abu Sayyaf, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Nusra Front, all of them made up of Qur’an-quoting Muslims?

Linda Sarsour claims to be both a fervent feminist and an ardent Muslim, and sees no contradiction in the two identities, for as she has famously insisted, “oppression of women is absolutely shunned in the Islamic faith.” Sarsour was one of four co-chairs of the 2017 Women’s March. She was also the co-chairwoman of the 2017 Day Without a Woman strike and protest, organized to mark International Women’s Day. Some people have been impressed with all her marching and protesting on behalf, she says, of women. Her marching and protesting, as a “feminist,” is a way to insinuate herself into the woman’s movement in order to promote from within her pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel agenda. Those who take her “feminism” at face value fail to realize that Sarsour is a supporter of Sharia law. She supports placing women under the management of men, but also claims that she is fighting for the liberation of women and for their equal rights. For her, that “fighting” is only taking place in the U.S., where women are as well off as anywhere in the world, and not in any Muslim country.

Sarsour’s only expression of dismay at the unequal treatment of women under Islam was about Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving, a ban which she knew, as did many, would soon be coming to an end. She has stayed away from the much more serious examples of mistreatment of women. She has never discussed Qur’an 4:34, where Muslim men, because they are “superior” in their abilities, are entrusted with the task of managing the affairs of women. Surely this proud Muslim ought to have used the bully pulpit of her Women’s March, or the admiring coverage afterwards, to express her outrage at that claim, and her distress that in that same Qur’anic verse, Muslim husbands are given the right to “beat” their wives if they even suspect them of disobedience. Don’t her fellow feminists have a right to know why she has remained silent on 4:34? Are they quite sure she is on their side, or might she be using them for her own purposes? Nor has Sarsour ever mentioned the inheritance laws in Islam, whereby a daughter receives half the amount of a son. And why has she never criticized in Islam the claim that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man, a rule that Muhammad himself explains in the hadith is justified “because of the deficiency in her [woman’s] intelligence”? (Sahih Bukhari 1.6.301, 2.24.501, 3.48.86)

When a female coworker of Linda Sarsour at the Arab-American Association of New York, Asmi Fathelbab, accused a male coworker of harassment, Sarsour became enraged, not with the male harasser, but with Fathelbab. She told her insultingly that ‘“something like that doesn’t happen to someone who looks like you,” a cruel reference to Fathelbab’s being overweight. Asmi Fathelbab also said in a televised interview that Sarsour had warned her “that I will never work in New York City ever again for as long as she lives” if Fathelbab were to press her claims. Sarsour was suddenly not the feminist stalwart she pretends to be, but a defender of a Muslim male. She was prepared to dismiss or silence those who might sully the reputation of the faith or of its Believers. In Sarsour’s universe, her pretense of being “feminist” is used to make friends and allies among self-described female “progressives” — for the sake of Islam, and especially for the “Palestinian” cause.

It would be helpful if some intrepid journalist were to ask Linda Sarsour the questions she has never been asked, about how her “feminism” and her devotion to “Islam” manage to coexist in her understanding, but that she ought at long last to answer. After all, in 2017, TIME magazine had already crowned her as one of the “100 most influential” people in the world — an astounding and absurd claim (she is, it must be conceded, one of the “100 most influential Arab-Americans”) — and she needs to explain what can charitably be called an “internal contradiction.”

Here are a handful — eight — questions that Linda Sarsour might profitably be asked:

1. As both a feminist and as a Muslim, Linda Sarsour, what do you think of the right of Muslim husbands to practice polygyny — one husband, many wives? Do you think that this practice devalues a woman’s worth?

2. Qur’an 4:34 gives Muslim husbands the right to “beat” their wives if they suspect them of being disobedient. Do you think that verse should be abrogated?

3. According to the Shari’a, a woman’s testimony in court is worth half that of a man. The reason for this, according to Muhammad, in several hadiths (Sahih Bukhari 1.6.301; 2.24.501; 3:48:86} is “because of the deficiency in her intelligence.” Could you tell us, Ms. Sarsour, what you think of that justification for men to manage women’s affairs from the Prophet Muhammad himself?

4. Muhammad consummated his marriage to Aisha — that is, had sexual intercourse with her — when she was nine years old and he was 54. Muslims regard Muhammad as the “Perfect Man” and the “Model of Conduct.” Many Muslims as a consequence find nothing wrong with older men marrying young girls — even as young as nine. The Ayatollah Khomeini married his wife when she was ten years old. He was determined to lower the marriageable age of girls to nine. What do you think of Muhammad’s treatment of Aisha? And what should be the minimum age for Muslim girls to marry?

5. In Islamic law, Ms. Sarsour, a woman who accuses a man of rape has to produce four male witnesses. Doesn’t such a requirement make it almost impossible, in Muslim countries, to convict a man of rape? Should this requirement be done away with?

6. You have been quoted as saying that Muhammad was “the original feminist.” Could you tell us what you meant by that, keeping in mind his comment about the “deficiency in woman’s intelligence”? Some Muslims have claimed that Muhammad had encouraged his first wife Khadija to engage in business — but isn’t it true that when he married Khadija she was already a successful businesswoman and needed no encouragement?

7. In the Qur’an, men are told they can treat their wives as their “tilth,” and sexually use them whenever and in whatever way they wish. The wives may not object. And recently the fatwa-issuing authority of the Palestine Authority, Dar al-Ifta, issued the following fatwa about a Muslim husband’s right to have sex on demand:

“A woman must ask permission from her husband to fast, because the husband has the right to enjoy his wife [sexually] at any time, and it is obligatory [for his wife] to fulfill his right immediately.

This was published in the Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2019.

Do you agree with this fatwa, Ms. Sarsour? Or do you think that a woman has a right to say “No” to her husband?

8. You can be seen on YouTube claiming that “oppression of women is absolutely shunned in the Islamic faith.” How do you reconcile this with the practice of polygyny, or the right of Muslim husbands to demand sex at any time and in any way, from their wives, or the right of husbands to “beat” their wives if they suspect them of disobedience?

That’s all the questions for now, Linda Sarsour. Thank you for your attempts at answering, But there will be other occasions, other questions, other questioners, other colossal doubts.

The self-important Linda Sarsour is very upset that she has been disinvited by GEICO. Her disingenuous charge is that GEICO must be Islamophobic; nothing else can explain this cancellation. She has placed herself at the center of a manufactured and phony drama; she apparently believes that she, Linda Sarsour, embodies Islam itself; by disinviting her, GEICO has attacked all Muslims and Arabs. Here’s part of an email she sent out to her MPower Change mailing list: 

“I’m sending this message to you with a heavy heart, shortly after beginning my daily fast for Ramadan.

“Just before Ramadan began, GEICO Insurance invited me to meet and talk with their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team. I was happy to discuss Arab-American heritage, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.

“Then, yesterday, in the middle of my fast for Ramadan two things happened that shocked me — and broke my heart.

Linda Sarsour hasn’t a locatable heart to break. She’s one of the nastiest and heartless creatures to appear in our public life, right up there with David Duke and Louis Farrakhan.

She continued to address her followers: 

I got the news that GEICO — the world-famous insurance company worth tens of billions of dollars — had decided to abruptly cancel the event with me.

Then, GEICO publicly justified their decision by smearing my work advocating for marginalized communities as “hatred” across their social media accounts.

All during Ramadan.

Let GEICO know you demand they do the right thing and rescind their statement & apologize to their Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian employees and customers. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to push back against anti-Arab and Islamophobic hate.

On Twitter? Tweet at GEICO to let them know that we won’t back down from anti-Arab, anti-Muslim discrimination.

Here’s what Ms. Sarsour is thinking: “Let’s force deep-pocketed GEICO – “worth tens of billions of dollars” – to recant its cancellation of my appearance, so that I can be sure to pocket the fat sum I was looking forward to receiving. After all, how else could someone like me have amassed a net worth of several million dollars, except by spreading my anti-Israel and antisemitic messages, and through my defense of Islam, on marches, on campuses, and in the world of corporate America that I pretend to despise, even as I pocket my speaker’s fee?

Of course GEICO is not engaging in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination. It will certainly find, eventually, another speaker who will be both Arab and Muslim, to replace the unlamented Linda Sarsour. That replacement will surely be a much less repellent representative of both the faith and the ethnicity, than is the sour-faced, unpleasant, antisemitic, fundamentally vicious Linda Sarsour.

If one of the largest companies in the world can get away with smearing advocacy for U.S. Muslims, Arab Americans and Palestinian-Americans as “hatred,” all in the midst of Ramadan, then we are in very, very big trouble.

In disinviting her, GEICO was not “smearing advocacy” for Muslims, Arab-Americans, and Palestinian-Americans as “hatred.” The company was making a judgement about exactly one person. What kind of person takes pride and pleasure in supporting such murderers as Muhammad Allan and Rasmea Odeh?

Should GEICO have allowed its own name sullied by having such a speaker as Linda Sarsour, once it had learned her history? The quality of Sarsour’s expression can be judged by her dismissal of islamocritic Ayaan Hirsi Ali: “What does Ayaan Hirsi Ali got that I ain’t got? Front page covers and shit.”And, in dismissing both Hirsi Ali and Brigitte Gabriel (a Maronite critic of Muslim extremism, who came to America from Lebanon after that nation’s civil war) Sarsour tweeted that both were “ asking for an a$$ whipping. I wish I could take their vaginas away- they don’t deserve to be women.”

Here are Linda Sarsour’s marching orders to her followers:

GEICO decided they were more comfortable publicly vilifying and dehumanizing a prominent advocate for Arab Americans, U.S. Muslims, Palestinians and other marginalized communities — caving at the first sign of disapproval from anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian voices — than simply having a conversation with me.

“Publicly vilifying”? “Dehumanizing”? For god’s sake, Linda, chillax. GEICO neither “vilified” nor “dehumanized” you. It would be enough just to quote your praise of Louis Farrakhan, whose spittle-flecked antisemitism you find so admirable. And then there is the approval you give to those whose hatred leads them to plant bombs to kill Jewish civilians in Israel. What more need be said about your “condoning” of hatred?

GEICO thought they could silence me from talking to their staff about fighting bigotry, racism and Islamophobia.

They were wrong about that.

GEICO was not trying to “silence” Linda Sarsour. She is free to peddle her nonsense, lies, and squalid hatreds anywhere that will have her, but she won’t be doing it on GEICO’s time or dime. No one can silence someone like Linda Sarsour. And some may suspect it is even useful to let her rant on, for the more she does so, the harder it becomes for her supporters to defend her.

But if we want GEICO to realize that there’s a real price to be paid for ignoring or antagonizing millions of people — U.S. Muslims, Arab-Americans, and the righteous allies who organize alongside us — then we need to be as loud as possible, right now.

A raving egomaniac, Linda Sarsour identifies herself as the very symbol of Muslim Arabs. Disinvite her to some well-paid corporate gig, and her fury knows no bounds: any dissing of Linda Sarsour is an assault on all Muslims and all Arabs, and on their “righteous allies.” There are, thank heaven, many Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. who are embarrassed by Sarsour and her ludicrous antics, and wish she would disappear. GEICO did not “attack the Muslim community.” It did not even attack Linda Sarsour as it might have, quoting her most unseemly and hate-filled remarks about Jews, her call for Jihad, her praise of Farrakhan, her lauding of terrorists, including those who encourage suicide bombings. It spared her that, in its laconic announcement that she was being disinvited because “GEICO does not condone hatred of any kind, and we do not stand for or with anyone who does. We are not aligned with any form of exclusion.”

Of course, GEICO didn’t say or imply anything negative about Muslims in general. There are plenty of non-bigoted Muslims who can be invited to speak to their employees. Or even non-Muslims, for a majority of the people who have come to America from the MENA countries have been Christians — mainly Egyptian Copts, Iraqi and Syrian Christians, and Lebanese Maronites. GEICO was speaking about exactly one person – the intolerant, and intolerable, Linda Sarsour.

Sarsour is so full of herself that she really appears to believe that she represents Islam itself. To attack her is to attack Islam. Who will puncture her fantasy? Like CAIR, Sarsour is not doing Muslims in this country any good.

Linda Sarsour not only condones hate in others, but has plenty of it herself, where Jews are concerned, and also has it for anyone who – like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, dangerous because she speaks from an intimate, inside knowledge of Islam – criticizes Islam. GEICO refrained from being more specific, as it might have been by pointing out her praise of haters. This was not a “defamatory attack.” It was the unpalatable truth. And now that CAIR and Sarsour have gathered the backing of 60 Muslim and leftist groups to put pressure on GEICO to apologize and to reinvite Sarsour to spread her poison, GEICO might want to put out a detailed report on Linda Sarsour’s views of Jews, women, homosexuals, and Infidels of every stripe. CAIR and Sarsour think GEICO will fold. I think they are in for a most unpleasant surprise.

There has been no “violation of human rights: in disinviting Sarsour to be the speaker at a GEICO meeting, as one of her “followers” claims. There is no “right” to be a speaker at such a private event, and no right, once invited, not to be disinvited. To limit this kind of simple-minded misunderstanding, a refresher course on the First Amendment might be a good idea.

Memo to corporate America: don’t make trouble for yourself. Perform due diligence. Learn from GEICO. And steer clear of that singularly unpleasant personage, Linda Sarsour.