Anti-Israel activist heads Muslim fundraiser to repair vandalized Jewish cemetery in US

A prominent anti-Israel Muslim activist led a successful campaign to repair a desecrated Jewish cemetery in Missouri. Could there be an agenda?

A group of American Muslim activists banned together to raise funds to repair St. Louis’ old Jewish cemetery, which was heavily vandalized over the weekend.

Vandals had turned over 150 headstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Missouri.

The crowdfunding project, launched by Linda Sarsour of MPower Change, a “digital Muslim-led political talking drum,” and Tarek El-Messidi of CelebrateMercy, a non-profit that teaches about the Prophet Mohammed, amassed $20,000 in just three hours. In total, the campaign collected over $57,000 from over 2000 supporters to date.

Indeed, donations tripled overnight after famous Harry Potter author JK Rowling supported the initiative online. “This is such a beautiful thing,” she tweeted, with a link to the campaign’s donation page.

“Muslim Americans stand in solidarity with the Jewish-American community to condemn this horrific act of desecration” against the cemetery. “We also extend our deepest condolences to all those who have been affected and to the Jewish community at large,” the campaign appeal stated.

“Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America. We pray that this restores a sense of security and peace to the Jewish-American community who has undoubtedly been shaken by this event,” the statement added.

Proceeds will be given directly to the cemetery, and any remaining funds will be allocated to repair all other vandalized Jewish centers.

Support from a Surprising Source

The fact that the campaign was organized by Linda Sarsour is a surprise, as she is a well-known anti-Israel activist with Palestinian roots.

As head of the Arab American Association of New York, Sarsour, one of the main organizers of the massive anti-Trump Women’s March, which took place after Trump’s inauguration, used that platform to attack the Jewish state. “Most of all, I am my Palestinian grandmother who lives in occupied territories’ wildest dream! Justice for all,” she stated at the event, rather than speaking out against honor killings and other forms of abuse against women in Muslim countries.

Sarsour supports the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and does not acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.

Several news and social media sites last month published pictures of Sarsour alongside Salah Sarsour, a member of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and former Hamas operative who was jailed in Israel in the 1990s, taken at a charity event in Chicago.

She tweeted in 2015 that “Zionist trolls” were out to get her, and in 2012 that “nothing is creepier than Zionism.”

By: World Israel News Staff