Brad Lander, a self-hating Jewish Democratic primary candidate for New York’s 10th Congressional District, is facing backlash after appearing at the Al-Khoei Islamic Center in Queens on May 15, where he recited – and actually sang – a verse from the Quran in Arabic, accused Israel of carrying out “genocide in Gaza,” and said he hopes to build political partnerships with Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib in Congress.

Speaking to congregants, Lander described himself as “a proud Jewish New Yorker” and vowed to oppose future U.S. military aid to Israel if elected.

“I believe, as a proud Jewish New Yorker, that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is a desecration, a violation of the understanding that everyone is created in divine image. Every one of those Palestinian kids in Gaza is just as divine as my beloved children.

“And so yes, in Congress I will not vote for any more U.S. military aid to Israel – not the bombs that are destroying the hospitals and schools in Gaza, and not the occupation in Lebanon, which is now I believe unfortunately on its way potentially to being a genocide as well.

“The kind of partnership I developed with Zohran I hope to come to have with Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar and others in Congress, to show we can build a city, and a country, and a world that everyone can afford, and where everyone is welcome, and where everyone’s humanity is respected.

“In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say: ‘He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge, He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.’ Thank you very much for welcoming me today.”

Following Lander’s remarks, the imam led a supplication saying: “Through your hands comes the relief for the believers and the killing of the infidels by your sword.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)