The #MeToo movement has been a net force for good, letting men know they can no longer easily get away with sexual harassment—especially in the workplace or in a power relationship. It also carries the mantra “believe the woman.” I don’t agree with that tactic in general, but when several women have consilient stories about a man’s behavior (the prime examples being Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein), their accusations gain considerable credibility. But what do you do when a woman is accused of enabling, ignoring, or covering up sexual abuse of another woman? So far that’s a rarity.
Yet that’s what’s happening with Linda Sarsour, the Muslim activist and co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington. I’ve often criticized her for hiding her real agenda, which I see as anti-Semitic, pro-sharia, pro-Islamist, and anti-feminist. She is, in my view, a grifter whose ultimate aim is not by any means reform of Islam or integration of Muslims into American society, but rather personal fame and political power. (She aspires, as I recall, to sit in Congress). I have predicted that her true character will eventually become evident, as she has a hard time repressing her ambition and emotions. And this may be what is happening now.
This week, several sites, including Fox News, the Daily Caller, The New York Post, The Washington Times, Conatus News, and Newsweek, all report that Sarsour is accused of covering up a man’s sexual abuse of one of her employees when Sarsour was executive director of the Arab American Association of New York eight years ago.
The excerpt below is from the Post (all these stories appear to trace back to the Daily Caller, except for the one from Conatus News, which independently interviewed the alleged victim). And yes, I know the Daily Caller is a right-wing site, but that doesn’t mean we should completely ignore what they say.
Asmi Fathelbab told the blog The Daily Caller that a man [Majed Seif] repeatedly rubbed his crotch on her while she worked for the association under Sarsour in 2009.
But when Fathelbab reported the abuse, Sarsour — a self-proclaimed feminist and co-founder of the Women’s March organization — fat-shamed the woman and threatened to blacklist her from political jobs, the woman told the website.
“She oversaw an environment unsafe and abusive to women,” said Fathelbab. “Women who put [Sarsour] on a pedestal for women’s rights and empowerment deserve to know how she really treats us.”
Fathelbab took a contract gig with the association in 2009 and claims she was repeatedly accosted by a man who lived in the same Bay Ridge building as the group’s office.
“He would pin me against the wall and rub his crotch on me,” she told the Caller.
“It was disgusting… You have no idea what it was like to stand up and feel that behind you.”
But Sarsour called her a “liar” when Fathelbab reported it and told her “something like this didn’t happen to women who looked like me,” Fathelbab charged, clarifying on Twitter that the the rebuff was a dig at her weight.
From Conatus News:
Fathelbab told the Daily Caller that she would scream at the top of her lungs during the assaults. She told Conatus News that Sarsour heard the screams.
“Oh, she heard me! She heard me and she kind of lost it one day because I apparently interrupted a very important news interview she was having in her office, because they heard me screaming and wanted to know what happened.”
Fathelbab said that after completing her Americorp contract with the Arab American Association, Sarsour had her fired from later jobs.
And from the Daily Caller:
According to Fathelbab, Sarsour threatened legal and professional damage if she went public with the sexual assault claims.
“She told me he had the right to sue me for false claims,” Asmi recalls, adding that the assaulter allegedly “had the right to be anywhere in the building he wanted.”
Desperate after multiple dismissals by Sarsour, the distraught employee says she went to the president of the board of directors, Ahmed Jaber.
“Jaber told me my stalker was a ‘God-fearing man’ who was ‘always at the Mosque,’ so he wouldn’t do something like that,” Fathelbab claims. “He wanted to make it loud and clear this guy was a good Muslim and I was a bad Muslim for “complaining.”
. . . “She [Sarsour] told me I’d never work in NYC ever again for as long as she lived,” Asmi says. “She’s kept her word. She had me fired from other jobs when she found out where I worked. She has kept me from obtaining any sort of steady employment for almost a decade.”
Here’s a bit of corroboration, though it’s neither a second woman assaulted nor an eyewitness account of Fathelhab’s assault, but it does describe Sarsour’s behavior in light of a harassment claim:
Two people who knew Fathelbab during her time at the Arab American Association spoke with The DC on condition of anonymity. Both corroborate her story, recalling that Asmi would return “emotionally distressed and in a panic” from work, often describing it as an “unsafe” work environment.
. . .Another New York political operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claims that Sarsour was “militant against other women” at the Association. This operative, who has worked for over 12 years with the Arab American Association, says they remember Asmi and witnessed her getting harassed in the building. [JAC: It’s not clear whether this refers to Seif’s alleged sexual harassment of Faithalbab or to other women, including Sarsour, fat-shaming her.]
“They made it about her [Fathelbab’s] weight, saying she was not attractive enough to be harassed and then swept it under the rug,” the source said. “It was Linda Sarsour, Ahmad Jaber and Habib Joudeh who took care of it.” Habib Joudeh is the vice president of the Arab American Association of New York.
The Daily Caller contacted Sarsour, the Women’s March Organization, Majed Seif and, and the Arab American Association, but none had a comment, nor even a denial.
Well, we have corroboration of a sort from a few others. If this were a man, he’d have been disgraced already, but Sarsour, a self-described feminist Muslim, is also a Teflon activist. My prediction: she will deny it (the “no comment” stance is unlikely to last indefinitely) and nothing will happen to her. It is of course possible that Fathelbab is lying and Sarsour did no wrong (in that case, you must discard the “believe the woman” trope). But if Sarsour is pressed to respond, it will be interesting to see what strategy she uses, as her career plans require that she come out clean. As Grania said, “I don’t know why anyone is surprised. Sarsour is a religious zealot, not a feminist.”
Still, we know that much of the Left will forgive Sarsour anything—including praising terrorists and murderers—because she’s what the New York Times called, in an risibly positive article, “a Brooklyn homegirl in a hijab.” Even if the accusation of sexual misconduct and coverup proves to be true, I’m betting that the usual subgroup of Western feminists will stick by Sarsour. This will be an interesting test for Western feminists, once again pitting one oppressed person (the putative victim) against another (the hijabi Brooklyn homegirl).
h/t: Orli
