Rep. Lee Zeldin says Pelosi Showed ‘Bad Judgment’ Allowing anti-Israel Imam to Deliver House Prayer

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., told “Fox & Friends” on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had made “a bad call” by allowing a Texas imam with a history of anti-Israel comments to deliver the noon prayer in the House of Representatives last week.

“Either the speaker’s office did not vet this imam at all, or worse, they did vet the imam and then decided that it would have been OK for the imam to come onto the floor of the House of Representatives anyway,” said Zeldin. “It’s a bad call to have this person. It’s horrible judgment, and after the 2019 that we’ve had so far, where members of their own caucus are pushing anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hate, it was a bad judgment.”

The imam, Omar Suleiman of Irving, Texas, was introduced by Pelosi before he delivered the prayer from the rostrum on Thursday. He had been invited to speak by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.

“We pray for peace, not war. Love, not hate. Benevolence, not greed. Unity, not division,” Suleiman said during his prayer. “And, we commit ourselves to not betraying our prayers with actions that contradict them.”

UFC Weigh-in at Freedom 250: Photos

Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Anti-Kirk teacher honored, ICE supporter expelled, Pride display problem

Judge defends barring cameras from Karmelo Anthony murder trial, says it was ‘an easy decision’

Armed Citizens Stop Supermarket Shooter In Missouri

New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard The Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs

Socialist Mayor Floats Taking Guns Away From Pimps Instead Of Just Arresting Them For Trafficking

Leading Democrat Senate Candidate’s Ex-Staffer Charged For Alleged Pro-Terrorist Vandalism

Obama Presidential Center’s $470M safety net under scrutiny as subcontractors say they’re owed millions

Trump picks James McDonald to lead powerful Southern District of New York after Jay Clayton’s departure

Texas GOP convention’s live elephant steals the show — for all the wrong reasons

Rubio, Newsom share World Cup spotlight at US opener as 2028 presidential speculation swirls

Multiple people wounded in shooting at South Carolina’s largest mall, authorities detain suspects

Helicopter footage captures Florida man allegedly abandoning child during high-speed chase from deputies

Death threats from ‘TDS’ song show it’s ‘about the right thing’: Natasha Owens

Workers rip Trump name from Kennedy center facade months after it goes on, hours after failed appeal

In 2017, the Algemeiner reported that Suleiman had posted an image on social media supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 and had posted on Facebook and Twitterduring the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas: “God willing on this blessed night as the 3rd Intifada begins, the beginning of the end of Zionism is here. May Allah help us overcome this monster, protect the innocent of the world, and accept the murdered as martyrs.”

The following year, the report added, Suleiman shared a video purporting to show conflicts between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers with the comment: “Want to know what its [sic] like to live under Nazis? Look no further than how the Palestinians are treated daily by apartheid Israel. Sickening.” That post was accompanied by the hashtag “BDS,” an acronym for the anti-Israel “Boycott, Divest, Sanction” movement.

“Let’s just say all you found was that he compares Israel to Nazis,” Zeldin told Fox News. “That would be enough to maybe tell that member or other members of the caucus, ‘How about you find another imam if you want to have an imam give an opening prayer?’ But … comparing Israel to terrorists, calling for — and inciting violence, calling for a third Palestinian intifada or the posts on social media that are supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood — as that list goes further on, it’s a bad call to have this person.”