Andrew Yang’s campaign manager has close ties with Linda Sarsour

Andrew Yang’s new mayor campaign manager, Sasha Ahuja, is a longtime progressive activist with ties to controversial Palestinian right-wing activist Linda Sarsour, according to a review of social media records by The Post.

The 41-year-old Sarsour has been a highly polarizing figure in urban politics for years, in which critics often accuse her of anti-Semitism.

“I understand why Andrew Yang hired her; trying to project themselves as progressive, ”Mark Meyer Appel, founder of the Bridge Multicultural Advocacy Project, told The Post. Appel, a supporter of yang opponent Eric Adams, said Ahuja “hung out with some real troublemakers”.

According to surveys, Yang is the undisputed leader in the race for City Hall. Ahuja, 33, was recently promoted to lead Yang’s campaign and was named co-campaign manager earlier this month along with Chris Coffey, a Bruiser advisor with Tusk Strategies.

Much of Ahuja’s connection with lightning rod Sarsour has been documented on social media. On March 8, 2017, the two were arrested together during a protest outside the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan.

“We are arrested for civil disobedience (unplanned 🙈) on International Women’s Day during the lunchtime event #DayWithoutWoman organized by the women’s march,” said Sarsour in a Facebook post that documents the moment and shares a photo of her, Ahuja and her activist Faiza becomes Ali arrested.

Ahuja raved about her controversial mentor.

“What they don’t realize is that @lsarsour raised a generation of activists. She paved the way for all of us. If they come for them, they come for us all. Not on our watch. NEE. We love you and we stand.” always with you, Linda! #StandWithLinda, “she said in a tweet from August 2020.

“Linda Sarsour is a freedom fighter and she taught us how to fight #istandwithlinda,” she said in another. “Linda Sarsour is my Shero. The end. #phenomenalwoman ”Ahuja added the activist in a third social media sermon.

Before Yang, Ahuja spent her time in more progressive circles and appears more philosophically connected to his opponent Maya Wiley, who donated her $ 250 in August 2020 (before Yang entered the race).

In 2019, Ahuja offered Kimberly Watkins a personable tweet accusing Yang of firing her while working at his Manhattan Prep company because she was married. Yang denied the claim.

She is currently also the Chair of the New York Commission on Equal Employment Practices.

Sarsour and the march of their wives were closely tied to the hate boss and leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan. Sarsour himself gave a passionate speech on his # JusticeOrElse March in Washington DC in 2015. She also publicly praised Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted in 1970 for part in the bombing of a supermarket in Jerusalem that killed two people.

Sarsour has often praised the benefits of Sharia law and supports the boycott, divestiture and sanctions movement against Israel.

“Her views have no place in our political discourse, and any candidate associated with her is guilty of handing over a megaphone to anti-Semites across the country,” Republican Republican President Ronald Lauder and President of the World Jewish Congress told the Post in September after Sarsour was named as the official replacement for Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

Sarsour didn’t respond to a request for comment but doesn’t appear to have given confirmation in the race. A review of her social media suggests it is personally friendlier with Eric Adams – who She supported his campaign for the President of the City of Brooklyn in 2013.

Yang has made a concerted effort to woo the city’s Jewish voters. He campaigned for Israel and against BDS and advocated greater autonomy among the city’s religious yeshiva schools. On Thursday, he appointed David Schwartz, a Brooklyn district manager, to be his Jewish Community Outreach Director.

“Andrew and I have spoken out openly for Israel and just as clearly against BDS, which distinguishes Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, for delegitimization.” The personal relationships of the campaign staff have no influence on Yang’s clearly formulated political positions for New York. We are clearly opposed to BDS – we always have and always will, ”Ritchie Torres, campaign co-chair, told The Post.

Campaign officials refused to say what role, if any, Sarsour could play in a future Yang government.