Women’s March co-leader Tamika Mallory declined to answer a question regarding Israel’s right to exist in an interview with PBS scheduled to broadcast on Sunday.
On Friday, Margaret Hoover of the PBS Sunday morning interview show “Firing Line,” previewed two minutes of her interview with Mallory, who said last week that she disagrees with some of what is said by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, but will not condemn him even for his anti-Semitism.
“I’m not Jewish, so for me to speak to that is not fair ... because I’m speaking of the people who we know are being brutally oppressed at this moment,” Mallory told Hoover. “Everyone has a right to exist. I just don’t feel that everyone has a right to exist at the disposal of another group.”
“I believe that all people have the right to exist. And that Palestinians are also suffering with a great crisis. And that there are other Jewish scholars who will sit here and say the same,” she added. “I’m done talking about this, you can move on.”
Hoover, a Republican and the great-granddaughter of U.S. President Herbert Hoover, fired back: “I just don’t think it requires scholarly knowledge to be able to say that Israel has a right to exist.”
To which Mallory responded, “It’s … it’s … again, I believe everyone has a right to exist.
The co-president of the @womensmarch refuses to affirm Israel’s right to exist—saying “everyone has a right to exist ... I just don’t feel that everyone has a right to exist at the disposal of another group.” pic.twitter.com/6BEwkAYVKT — Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) January 18, 2019
Meanwhile, at the Women’s March on Saturday, Linda Sarsour, who serves as co-leader with Mallory, expressed her support for the anti-Israel BDS movement: “We will protect our constitutional right to boycott, divest and sanctions in this country.”
She also added that “there are no perfect leaders,” and that “the media can talk about any controversy they want, but the real controversy is in the White House.”
