By Harriet Alexander for Dailymail.com 06:22 November 21, 2023, updated 10:44 November 21, 2023
Actress Susan Sarandon has been criticized for claiming that Jewish people are “getting a taste of what it feels like to be Muslim” amid the war with Hamas.
The Oscar winner, 77, attended several rallies in New York where she joined the chant of “From the River to the Sea,” a rallying cry used by pro-Palestinian activists and Hamas alike and which many consider anti-Semitic View call for the destruction of Israel.
Following the deadly Hamas rampage in southern Israel on October 7 and the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, the song was given new life.
In other shocking new statements, Sarandon said at a recent rally: “A lot of people right now are afraid of being Jewish and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show star also has posts on
Meanwhile, Muslim-American journalist Asra Nomani criticized Sarandon for the “taste of what it feels like,” a comment the star made at a rally on Saturday, highlighting how good life is for her and her immigrant parents in the United States.
Susan Sarandon was seen at a pro-Palestine rally in New York City last month. Over the weekend, she attended another event where she was seen chanting “from the river to the sea,” which was branded an anti-Semitic phrase calling for the destruction of Israel
Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal journalist, wrote: “Hello @SusanSarandon,” she tweeted. “Let me tell you what it means to be Muslim in America.”
Nomani then listed the freedoms that she and her parents, who emigrated from India, enjoy in their adopted homeland.
She told how her father, a professor, managed to get a permanent job, while her mother enjoyed going without a headscarf and opening a business in Morgantown, West Virginia, where they settled.
“Please do not minimize the experience of Jewish Americans by sanitizing the hell that exists for Muslims in Muslim countries and denigrating America for the life – and freedoms – it offers to Muslims like my family,” Nomani concluded.
“Go live like a Muslim woman in a Muslim country.”
“You will return to America and kiss the land beneath your feet.”
Nomani spoke as Sarandon, who won a best actress Oscar for 1995’s Dead Man Walking, went to X to welcome a performance by Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters at an event in Uruguay.
“Despite attempts by the Israeli lobby to cancel the event, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters took the stage in Uruguay, donning a keffiyyah and calling for an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” the post said. Sarandon retweeted it to her 850,000 followers.
Waters, who has repeatedly been accused of anti-Semitism, told journalist Glenn Greenwald that he believed Hamas’ terrorist attacks were inflated by Israelis making up “stories about beheading babies.”
Sarandon raised eyebrows on Friday when she attended a protest outside Penn Station in New York City.
The actress, a left-wing activist known for her protests with Jane Fonda against the Iraq War, her environmental advocacy and her support for Bernie Sanders, led provocative chants.
She joined the call: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a call that many see as a call for the destruction of Israel, the New York Post reported.
She told the crowd: “There are a lot of people who are afraid, who are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and who are getting a taste of what it feels like to be Muslim in this country.”
Nomani is pictured with her parents. She told Sarandon she was grateful for the life America had given them all
“It’s important to listen, it’s important to have facts.” You don’t have to go through the entire history of this region, you just have to show the babies dying in incubators.
“These pictures are enough to show you that something is very wrong. “We need a ceasefire now.”
Her comments about being “Muslim in America” particularly angered Nomani. She was born in India to Sunni Muslim parents and lived and worked in Pakistan.
One of her colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was murdered by Islamists.
Nomani has become a passionate advocate for Muslim women’s rights.
And Nomani objected to Sarandon criticizing the United States’ treatment of Muslim women.