Susan Sarandon was sharply criticized by a Muslim American writer after the actress said fearful American Jews were now getting a "taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim" in the United States.
At a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City on November 17, Sarandon called for protesters to listen and have conversations with Jewish Americans, as many have said they don't feel safe because of the rise in antisemitism since the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
She remarked, "There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence."
Sarandon, like several other celebrities, has called for a cease-fire in Gaza, and condemned the deaths of Palestinian children in the Middle East conflict.
Muslim American writer and education activist Asra Nomani strongly disagreed with Sarandon's comments about Muslims living in fear in the United States. Nomani told the actress, "Let me tell you what it means to be Muslim in America," in a thread on X.
Nomani, whose parents emigrated from India, said her parents experienced a life of freedom and opportunity in America, that they wouldn't have experienced living in a Muslim country.
"My dad didn’t have to become a second-class indentured servant to one of the many tyrants of Muslim countries that use immigrants from India, like my family, as essential slaves," she wrote.
Nomani relayed how her father received his doctorate from Rutgers University in the 1970s, and was offered an assistant professor position at West Virginia University. "He got rejected first for tenure but being Muslim in America meant he got a right like everybody got — his right to appeal and guess what? He won and he became a full professor. That’s what it means to be Muslim in America. You get your full rights," she said.
"And what did living free mean for my mom as a Muslim in America? It meant in 1981 she got to start a business on High Street in downtown Morgantown, called Ain’s International….That entrepreneurship and financial independence is denied [to] Muslim women in so many Muslim countries," she wrote.
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Nomani praised the pathway to citizenship offered to immigrants in America, saying these opportunities aren't given in Muslim-majority countries like Qatar.
"You think the Muslim dictatorship of Qatar allows a pathway to citizenship for Muslim slaves, servants or Palestinian Muslims? Hell no. The Muslim Al-Thani family just buys citizenship for Muslim soccer stars from countries in Africa to steal World Cup wins. But otherwise it treats non-Qatari Muslims like slaves. America? My family waited, took the test, studied the constitution and we are citizens — hallelujah!" she wrote.
Nomani, has long been outspoken against radical Islamic ideology. She previously worked as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal with Daniel Pearl, the reporter who was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.
While living in Pakistan, Nomani's own life was put in danger after she discovered she was pregnant.
"In 2002, I fled Pakistan with a souvenir that could have gotten me imprisoned or killed: a baby growing inside of me, a wedding ring not upon my hand. Sharia law makes sex out of marriage a crime in Muslim countries like Pakistan. My body? The mullah’s tyranny," she wrote on X.
"Where do you think I came to give birth to my baby in safety and security, without shame? West by God Virginia in the United States of America — where we enjoy equal rights as Muslim AmeriCANs, not AmeriCANTs," she said.
Throughout the thread, Nomani compared her family's story with other Muslim Americans, whose families have not experienced the same freedoms while living in countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia.
The writer and activist ended her story telling Sarandon she should "go live like a Muslim woman in a Muslim country" before "vilifying" America.
"This is a ‘taste’ of life for a Muslim family in America. Please don’t minimize the experience of Jewish Americans by sanitizing the hell that it is for Muslims living in Muslim countries and vilifying America for the life — and freedoms — she offers Muslims like my family. Go, live like a Muslim woman in a Muslim country," she wrote.
"You will come back to America and kiss the land beneath your feet."
Fox News Digital confirmed reports Tuesday that Sarandon had been dropped by her representation at United Talent Agency over her recent comments.
