U.S. House Candidate Gets a Blessing From a Holocaust-Denying Muslim Preacher

Brad Lander, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, appeared at a mosque in New York that is run by a Holocaust denier. That is according to a report published today (Tuesday) by the American outlet the "Free Beacon." According to the report, Lander was recorded singing in Arabic, receiving a blessing from the mosque’s imam, and pledging "to work together" with the party’s extremist members who support the campaign against Israel.

Lander, who is described as close to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, visited a mosque in the borough of Queens whose imam, Sheikh Fadel Al-Sahlani, said in one of his sermons that "the deaths of Jews in the Holocaust were "exaggerated and it may have been only a Zionist mission." Members of New York’s Jewish community noted that the imam is known as an infamous Holocaust denier.

In the upcoming election, Lander will try to defeat Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman of New York’s 10th District. Lander has the backing of the far-left leader in the Democratic Party, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fierce opponent of Israel.

During the visit to the mosque, Lander declared that "in Congress I will not vote for more American military aid to Israel, not for the bombs that are destroying hospitals and schools in Gaza, not for the occupation in Lebanon." He accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and said the country’s actions in Lebanon were also "on the way, potentially, to becoming genocide."

According to the report in the "Free Beacon," a new Emerson College poll shows Lander leading Goldman among primary voters, driven by sweeping support from younger voters, most of them progressives from Brooklyn, who voted for Mamdani. Lander has made Goldman’s support for Israel a central issue in the campaign, and his visit to Queens gave him another platform to attack the Jewish state.