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Despite Accusations Of Gross Anti-Semitism, Women’s March Attracts Mainstream Support

SHUTTERSTOCK/ Julie Hassett Sutton

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Despite recurring allegations — and evident proof — that leaders of the Women’s March have an anti-Semitic agenda, this year’s event enjoys support from many relatively mainstream, popular groups.

The theme of this year’s march is “The Women’s Agenda.” The list of organizations with officials or representatives supporting the event includes the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) — just to name a few.

The Southern Poverty Law Center very recently announced that it can no longer support the march due to the anti-Semitic allegations.

Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory has attended and applauded rallies led by the notoriously anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. Activist Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian and fellow leader of the Women’s March, also supports Farrakhan and has been accused of sharing many anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic beliefs. (RELATED: Report: Women’s March Full Of Anti-Semites, Has Ties To Nation Of Islam)

LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Women's March Co-Chairwomen Bob Bland, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Tamika D. Mallory speak during the Women's March "Power to the Polls" voter registration tour launch at Sam Boyd Stadium on January 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Demonstrators across the nation gathered over the weekend, one year after the historic Women's March on Washington, D.C., to protest President Donald Trump's administration and to raise awareness for women's issues. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

(L-R) Women’s March Co-Chairwomen Bob Bland, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Tamika D. Mallory speak during the Women’s March “Power to the Polls” voter registration tour launch on Jan. 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nev. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

In promoting their plans, event organizers stress that this year’s activities come from the organizers of 2017 — the same people who have been subject to so much criticism for reportedly excluding Jewish people from the festivities and advocacy. During a small, but apparently important Women’s March meeting, Mallory and another leader, Carmen Perez, allegedly told a top Jewish member of the group that “Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people,” like slave trading.

The 2019 agenda “will inform the priorities of our movement for the next two years … [and] is being created by the women leaders who crafted the Unity Principles for the 2017 Women’s March, along with dozens of organizations and individuals with policy expertise who represent women and femmes in marginalized and impacted communities,” the news release reads. (RELATED: Vanessa Wruble Says She Was Muscled Out Of 2018 Group For Being Jewish)

Those priorities include “Ending Violence Against Women & Femmes,” “Reproductive Rights & Justice,” “LGBTQIA+ Rights,” “Immigrant Rights” and “Environmental Justice.”

An older white woman in the 2018 Women’s March holds signs saying abortion saves lives and that women are not going back to when it was illegal. Shutterstock/J. Bicking

In 2019, the march will be promoting “Medicare for All,” a universal health care system that is truly ubiquitous, touching “every woman — cisgender, transgender, and non-binary and gender non-conforming femmes” as well as men.

Organizers assure supporters that the The Women’s Agenda is not being haphazardly thrown together but is “being crafted by teams of issue-area experts” who are drawn from “women of color, LGBTQ communities, women of diverse faiths and ages, indigenous women, disabled women and low-income women.”

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