Last week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) introduced Texas-based imam Omar Suleiman to deliver the noon prayer in the House of Representatives. The imam had been invited by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX).
But the choice was far from benign. Suleiman has a long history of advocating for the destruction of the state of Israel, home to half of the world’s Jews. In 2014, he posted on Twitter celebrating a possible Third Intifada. For those unfamiliar with the nature of recent intifadas, they generally are marked by a series of terror attacks against Israeli civilians, goaded on by the terrorist group Hamas.
Unsurprisingly, Suleiman has also expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, sharing a video on his Facebook in 2015 that compared Israelis to Nazis. He has also referred to Zionists as “enemies of God.”
Suleiman’s social media activity is not confined to support for the destruction of the Jewish state. Suleiman has also posted at least one image in support of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, an organization Sen. Ted Cruz and others have fought to designate as a terrorist group for its interest in establishing sharia under the auspices of a global caliphate. The Trump administration is in the process of making that terrorist designation. The Muslim Brotherhood has various offshoots throughout the Muslim world, including Hamas, the terrorist group that seeks genocide against the Jews and violently oppresses Palestinian Arabs living in the Gaza Strip.
This is the individual Pelosi decided was appropriate to introduce to deliver the noon prayer. Whether the invitation was the result of a deliberate choice or merely “failed vetting,” Democrats’ continued fraternization with those advocating for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state speaks volumes about the far left’s capacity to swallow the party.
As Rep. Lee Zeldin (R–NY) pointed out following Suleiman’s prayer, with regards to anti-Semitism, “You should be more sensitive to it, not less sensitive. You’re seeing a desensitizing right now that is hugely dangerous if that takes over more and more of the Democratic Party.”
As I have written several times in the past, criticism of Israeli policy is a healthy exercise; advocating for the eradication of an entire country is not. The recent invocation Suleiman delivered reveals much of the left’s willingness to normalize a radical position, one that favors the destruction of one of our strongest allies.
I will not call anti-Zionism a “political position,” because I don’t believe an ideology that resurrects Nazi imagery should be granted legitimacy. Meanwhile, House Democrats are seeking to do just that.
The Corbynization of much of the American left has occurred with particular alacrity following the induction of freshmen Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D–MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–NY), and Ilhan Omar (D–MN), but it has been given the leeway to foment under Pelosi. The left continues to offer a safe haven for those who spew vitriolic hate towards the Jewish state, all while lecturing Americans about the perils of anti-Semitism. This reeks of the utmost hypocrisy.