Geico Cancels Event With Linda Sarsour Under Pressure From Groups Fighting Antisemitism
Laurel Duggan /
Insurance company Geico apologized Thursday for inviting Linda Sarsour to speak at a company event celebrating Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month.
Several groups working to combat antisemitism criticized the inclusion of Sarsour, whom many consider to be an antisemite, prompting Geico to cancel the event and publicly apologize.
“We apologize to our employees, customers, and others for our initial plan to invite Linda Sarsour to speak at our internal event celebrating Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Heritage Month. On Tuesday, we quickly cancelled the event,” the company said in a Twitter apology.
“GEICO does not condone hatred of any kind, and we do not stand for or with anyone who does. We are not aligned with any form of exclusion. We will continue to celebrate MENA Heritage Month in a way that aligns with our values,” the statement concluded.
Geico then linked to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page of its website, which displays charts and graphs of the company’s racial and gender demographics.
Sarsour is an anti-Israel activist and longtime defender of convicted terrorist and murderer Rasmieh Yousef Odeh. Sarsour was also a leader of the Women’s March but resigned in 2019 over antisemitism allegations, and wrote a letter in 2018 refusing to denounce Louis Farrakhan, whom many have called an antisemite.
The American Jewish Committee had called on Geico to reconsider Sarsour’s participation.
“@LSarsour’s extensive record of trafficking in incendiary, antisemitic comments about the Jewish people and Israel makes her utterly unfit to be the face of @GEICO’s ‘diversity & inclusion’ campaign,” the group wrote.
StopAntisemitism.org also condemned Geico’s decision to host Sarsour on Twitter Wednesday.
We are horrified a respectable company like @GEICO would choose to feature antisemitic bigot @lsarsour to represent the MENA region.
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) April 6, 2022
Sarsour had to step down from the Women’s March due to her open Jew hatred!
What was Carl Tims thinking here?! pic.twitter.com/rNP7LremqH
“We are horrified a respectable company like @GEICO would choose to feature antisemitic bigot @lsarsour to represent the MENA region,” the organization wrote. “Sarsour had to step down from the Women’s March due to her open Jew hatred!”
Sarsour, who has previously supported the boycott, divest, and sanction Israel movement, said “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” and said Israel was “built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else” when discussing American white supremacy.
Geico did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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