The 47^th American president’s inauguration ceremony saw a group of four Christian clergymen and a Jewish rabbi delivering a benediction to Donald Trump.

Notably absent from the ceremony was Imam Husham Al-Husainy, a Shia Muslim cleric from Dearborn, Michigan, who was set to make history as the first Muslim leader to speak at an American presidential inauguration.

The absence was unexpected, especially considering the fact that Al-Husainy was one of the few Muslim leaders to endorse Trump in the final stretch of the election, when the Muslim electorate was often alienated by the former president’s rhetoric.

This was despite a spokesperson for the inauguration committee having previously confirmed his participation, which was widely viewed as a symbolic gesture, reflecting Donald Trump’s surprising gains among Muslim American voters during the 2024 election.

“I am supporting Donald Trump because he opposes gay marriage and he is the most Christian person in the election,” Al-Husainy stated in a previous interview.

“He will return us to conservative values, and I am a Muslim and I will stand with whoever opposes gay marriage,” he told the Hill.

The inauguration committee has yet to issue a statement explaining why Al-Husainy was removed from the final lineup.

Yet, what is certain is that Al-Husainy’s association with Trump has drawn the ire of some pro-Israel circles.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), one of the oldest pro-Israel advocacy organisations in the US, was particularly vocal in opposing his inclusion.

Last week, the ZOA released a statement condemning his planned participation, calling him an “anti-Semite and Hezbollah apologist” and warning that keeping Al-Husainy in the program would “send a terrible message” and stain Trump’s administration.

In a statement, the organization’s president Morton A. Klein cited Al-Husainy’s participation in a 2006 pro-Hezbollah rally in Dearborn, where he allegedly held up a photo of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Klein also cited the cleric’s 2007 appearance on the Fox News show “Hannity & Colmes”, in which Al-Husainy allegedly declined to label Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, describing it instead as “a Lebanese organization” and “party of God”.

His statement also pointed to Al-Husainy’s leadership of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, which organised a 2015 rally where he reportedly wished “death upon Saudi Arabia” and called the Saudis “agents of the Jews” whose “Zionist planes” brought destruction to Yemen.

“Americans—including unprecedented numbers of American Jews—voted for President Trump in the belief that he will once again make antisemitism unacceptable in America – and have long awaited Donald Trump’s return to the presidency on January 20th,” the statement read.

“Don’t mar that day,” it concluded with a warning.

The ZOA, founded in 1897 as the Federation of American Zionists, played a pivotal role in advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, well before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

ZOA has been particularly active in opposing public figures or initiatives it views as hostile to Israel, having called for counter-protests against events critical of Israel’s founding and campaigning against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Source: TRT World

“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his secretary of state pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.

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Trump also nominated Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and staunch pro-Israel conservative who backs Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has called a two state solution in Palestine “unworkable”, as the next ambassador to Israel.

He has picked Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, who called the UN a “cesspool of antisemitism”, opens new tab for its condemnation of deaths in Gaza, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.

“We are very disappointed,” he said. “It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”

Nazarko said the community would continue pressing to make its voices heard about ending the war in Gaza. “At least we’re on the map.”

Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and co-founder of the Abandon Harris campaign, which endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein, said Trump’s staffing plans were not surprising, but had proven even more extreme that he had feared.

“It’s like he’s going on Zionist overdrive,” he said. “We were always extremely skeptical … Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the administration will go, but it does look like our community has been played.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Several Muslim and Arab supporters of Trump said they hoped Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, would play a key role after he led months of outreach to Muslim and Arab American communities, and was even introduced as a potential next secretary of state at events.

Another key Trump ally, Massad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders.

Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate for peace who would act swiftly to end the wars in the Middle East and beyond. Neither was immediately reachable.

Trump made several visits to cities with large Arab American and Muslim populations, include a stop in Dearborn, a majority Arab city, where he said he loved Muslims, and Pittsburgh, where he called Muslims for Trump “a beautiful movement. They want peace. They want stability.”

Bill Bazzi, mayor of neighboring Dearborn Heights, who endorsed Trump, said he met the president-elect three times and still believed he would work to end the war, despite the cabinet appointments.

Rola Makki, the Lebanese American, Muslim vice chair for outreach of the Michigan Republican Party, agreed.

“I don’t think everyone’s going to be happy with every appointment Trump makes, but the outcome is what matters,” she said.

“I do know that Trump wants peace, and what people need to realize is that there’s 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese, and that’s happened during the current administration.”