MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough is working overtime to rehabilitate the reputation of one of America’s most consequential antisemites: Al Sharpton.
Scarborough posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday a picture of Sharpton on MSNBC as part of an article entitled “Al Sharpton Stands Up for Israel.”
“If you’re surprised that the civil rights leader and MSNBC host has broken with the left on Hamas, you haven’t been paying attention,” the article reads in part.
Not supporting a state-designated terrorist organization isn’t really ‘standing’ up for Israel, it’s standing up for everyone (and it’s a rather low bar) — but more on that later.
Sharpton frequently appears on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying weeks ago that the anti-Semitic rallies on college campuses and in public do not fall in a “grey area” and that opposition to those rallies should be a given. Sharpton spoke of the sanctity of Jewish human life and said Hamas should not be called “militants” but rather murderers and terrorists.
Sharpton also said on “Morning Joe” that people should be marching in support of Jews.
“If they said kill the black we would be marching. This is not hard.”
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Scarborough is seemingly so proud of his frequent “Morning Joe” guest for simply not hating Jews because they’re Jews that he posted on X:
“@TheRevAl stands up for Israel.”
.@TheRevAl stands up for Israel.
The Civil Rights leader breaks with the Left on defending Israel. pic.twitter.com/N2bvrnP4ZR— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 4, 2024
I guess Sharpton was sitting down in the early ’90’s when he helped fuel race riots in Brooklyn as part of his long career as a shakedown artist simply looking for his next photo opportunity. (RELATED: Kamala Harris Heaps Praise On Al Sharpton: ‘Conscience Of Our Country’)
Sharpton, alongside Sonny Carson, another so-called “civil rights activist” who conveniently didn’t care about civil rights of Jews, led a march through Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991 during the infamous Crown Heights Riots. The marchers carried anti-Semitics signs and burned the Israeli flag. Some rioters shot at police, others threw bricks and bottles at them. Riots continued to escalate with 152 police officers and 38 civilians injured in the riot, along with property damage and robbery.
The riot started on Aug. 19, 1991, after 22-year-old Yosef Lifsh crashed into a building pillar, which then fell, crushing two children, one to death. Lifsh was part of a motorcade for Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and fell behind as the procession moved through an intersection. Lifsh proceeded through a red light, believing he had the right to do so since the procession was being escorted by police vehicles.
Lifsh hit another car before veering onto a sidewalk and striking the pillar. The pillar crushed seven-year-old Gavin Cato to death and his seven-year-old cousin Angela Cato, who survived with serious injuries.
EMS arrived on scene within minutes and said Lifsh was being severely beaten and was dragged out of his vehicle by a group of men. A volunteer Hatzolah ambulance also arrived on scene and helped Angela Cato until she was taken to a hospital.
The New York Times reported that a group of mostly black teenagers began shouting “Jews! Jews! Jews!”
Riots began later that night, and by the next morning, a group of black men surrounded 29-year-old Yankee Rosenbaum and stabbed him multiple times in the back and beat him. Rosenbaum was able to identify one of the assailants in a line up but later died after doctors failed to notice a stab wound in his chest.
Jews were attacked, their businesses were looted and their homes were damaged.
But Sharpton’s march wasn’t all that he did to stoke the flames of anti-Semitism. During a eulogy for Cato, Sharpton referred to “diamond merchants” and said “it’s an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights.” Sharpton also accused former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani of engaged in “race-baiting” after he called the riot a “pogrom” against Jewish people.
As for Sharpton’s courageous anti-Hamas pivot: having basic human decency and not supporting terrorists isn’t an accomplishment. Sharpton may be standing up for Israel against Hamas, but his deep involvement in anti-Semitic race riots should not be forgotten. For those of us who do pay attention, we remember the murder of an innocent Jewish man at the hands of rioters incited by Sharpton.