The Internet Defends Women’s March Organizer Accused of Having Ties to Terror

The hashtag #IMarchWithLinda is being widely used on social media after a Muslim-American woman and one of the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington last Saturday was accused of having terrorist ties.

Linda Sarsour, a racial justice and civil rights activist from Brooklyn, NY, was accused by the blog the Daily Caller of having ties to Hamas, the terrorist group. Another blog, Front Page Mag, described her as anti-Semitic and wrote that her husband, Maher Judeh, “mourned the 1998 death of the Hamas ‘master terrorists’ Adel and Imad Awadallah.”

But many social media users have come out in support of Sarsour, who is described on the Arab American Association of New York website as “ambitious, outspoken and independent.” Many have tweeted their solidarity with Sarsour using the hashtag #IMarchWithLinda, including New York Daily News writer Shaun King and Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein.

“I need extra prayers sisters and brothers,” Sarsour wrote in a statement on Facebook. “The opposition cannot fathom to see a Palestinian Muslim American woman that resonates with the masses. Someone whose track record is clear and has always stood up for the most marginalized.”

She continued: “They have a coordinated attack campaign against me and it’s vicious and ugly. It’s not the first time, but it’s definitely more intense – the fact that my children see it is what is bothering me the most. They will not succeed. I have helped build a movement, I am ready for what’s to come so they can spew alternative facts and piece a twisted narrative together if they want – I and we will still rise.”