Leaked audio has revealed that representatives of the Joe Biden campaign have privately apologized to Linda Sarsour and other Muslim activists after issuing a public condemnation of her, according to the New York Post.
Sarsour, a far-left Islamic activist with a long history of anti-Semitic and anti-American statements, was one of the speakers at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, speaking as part of the “Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly.” Following widespread backlash over Sarsour’s invitation to speak at the DNC, Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates released a statement declaring that “Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism,” adding that “[Sarsour] has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.”
But on Sunday, on a private conference call with many prominent left-wing Islamic activists, Biden campaign spokeswoman Ashley Allison apologized for the “pain” that Biden’s condemnation may have caused Sarsour and other Muslims, saying that “I hope that whatever trust was broken, that this conversation is one small step back to help rebuild that trust.”
Sarsour first rose to prominence as one of the ringleaders of the Women’s March, a radical feminist and anti-Trump protest movement that all but died out within one year of the Trump presidency. Sarsour, and several others in the Women’s March leadership, was forced out of the organization due to her anti-Semitic rhetoric, particularly against the state of Israel. She also once infamously declared that the Left should wage “jihad” against the Trump Administration.
In response to Biden’s initial condemnation of her, Sarsour called the public statement “unfortunate” and “disrespectful,” claiming that “The Democratic Party needs me, and the communities that I come from, more than we need them.”