(CNS) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants “all people of conscience” to contact their members of Congress to voice support for an imam whose past statements on Israel and Zionism have drawn fire after he was asked to delivered the opening prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.
CAIR says Irving, Texas-based Imam Omar Suleiman has been “targeted by a smear campaign by Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian groups” after being invited by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) to deliver the opening prayer.
The prayer itself was not controversial, but Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said the invitation was a “bad call,” given Suleiman’s record.
“It is totally unacceptable that Speaker Pelosi had Omar Suleiman give the opening prayer yesterday in the House of Representatives,” Zeldin said in a statement on Friday.
