Was Muslim cleric dropped from Trump inauguration after Zionist warning?
January 24, 2025 2025-01-26 15:35Was Muslim cleric dropped from Trump inauguration after Zionist warning?

Was Muslim cleric dropped from Trump inauguration after Zionist warning?
A powerful pro-Israel advocacy group released a statement a week ago urging the removal of the Shia imam from the program.
The 47th 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