Following accusations that Women’s March co-founder Linda Sarsour enabled the sexual harassment and assault of Asmi Fathelbab, BuzzFeed News got in touch with Sarsour to get her side of the story.
The Brooklyn-born Muslim who has become one of the faces as part of the resistance to President Trump said she initially didn’t think much of the accusations because she’s used to right-wing smear attacks. The original story was published by the Daily Caller, although Fathelbab posted her account on her Facebook first. However, after the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted about it, she knew something was amiss.
“Anti-Semitic, terrorist sympathizer, supporter of female genital mutilation — every week they come up with some new stuff about me,” Sarsour told BuzzFeed News. “But when the president’s son is tweeting about me, that’s serious stuff.”
Sarsour, who was running the Arab American Association, worked with Fathelbab, an Americorps employee who was placed with the organization and coordinated the youth program. That much was confirmed in the BuzzFeed article.
However, the stories begin to diverge as Sarsour retells her version of the events, who completely denied the accusations that she enabled sexual harassment or assault. She even presented affidavits, email correspondence, and witness statements that cast doubt on Fathelbab’s version of events. Sarsour did not respond to requests for comment from both the Washington Examiner and the Daily Caller.
Majid Seif did live in the building that housed the Arab American Association, and often helped Fathelbab and AAA with Arabic translation or event planning. He denies any type of sexual misconduct with Fathelbab.
In an affidavit produced on Aug. 13, 2009, Sarsour defended Seif against the accusations Fathelbab was making and said it was she who was creating a hostile work environment. And, to Sarsour, the accusations that Fathelbab brought forward weren’t as bad as what she told the Daily Caller.
“The exact words were, ‘He makes me feel uncomfortable,’” Sarsour recalled, who also denied that she ever body-shamed Fathelbab by asserting she as too fat to be the object of harassment. “There was nothing about touching or groping. There’s no evidence, no email she can pull out where she ever gave those claims to us.”
She continued. “This is character assassination. This is where we have to draw the line. I have two daughters. This is not the type of behavior I engage in.”
The problem with Sarsour’s defense is that one BuzzFeed article doesn’t absolve her of any wrongdoing. It’s certainly possible that Fathelbab exaggerated her version of events or even didn’t tell the entire truth, but that doesn’t discredit the idea that she could’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted. An affidavit saying that Sarsour defended Seif actually proves Fathelbab right, in that she took his side over his accuser’s.
And email correspondence proves nothing unless it is made public for everyone to decide. Witness statements are also only so good as to whether you believe their version of events. We believed everyone in Hollywood that people like Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey weren’t total dirtbags until all of their accusers started coming forward telling their stories.
This could very well be a right-wing smear against Sarsour, but it could also be a legitimate case of sexual harassment and assault that was mishandled. What is there to gain for Fathelbab, a 37-year-old Muslim woman, to go after Sarsour if her story is not credible? She claims that Sarsour has relentlessly followed her ever since she made the accusations, and prevented her from finding employment as a form of retaliation. By bringing it all up again now, she’s only making herself more of an outcast, whether she’s telling the truth or not.
Maybe Sarsour thought she did the right thing back in 2009, checked all the boxes, and tried to ensure that that type of harassment never took place again under her watch, but that it still wasn’t good enough for Fathelbab.
There’s more to the story here, and one BuzzFeed article isn’t going to change that.