(PresidentialWire.com) – Bernie Sanders was forced to distance his campaign from comments made by a Muslim Imam on Tuesday after unearthed video showed his supporter linking ISIS to Israel.
Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager, was forced to issue a statement on Tuesday in response to video footage in which a Sanders supporter, who appeared on stage during one of his rallies, claimed the Islamic State was “somehow connected to Israel.”
This is the imam that spoke at Bernie Sanders’ rally. How many virulent antisemites will he allow to be formally involved in his campaign? https://t.co/xwrk226uvFpic.twitter.com/uqvDfqvbdq
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) March 10, 2020
Imam Sayed Hassan Qazwini gave a speech at a Bernie Sanders rally in Dearborn, Michigan, on Saturday. For those who don’t know it, Dearborn is known for being a hotbed for Islamic radicalism in the United States. Anyone who understands the threat of Islamism from within the United States will have heard of the city.
Qazwini has campaigned hard for Bernie Sanders in the state, making the revelations particularly damning for Sanders and his campaign team.
In a November 2015 speech, Qazwini explained:
“ISIS somehow is connected to Israel, and ISIS is playing the role of the arm of the Zionist in the Muslim world to kill more Muslims and non-Muslims so it can define the name of Islam, so people can blame Islam for its atrocities.”
The speech is obviously a problem for the Sanders campaign.
“The campaign has been made aware of offensive and toxic past statements by Imam Qazwini,” Shakir told the Washinton Post.
“These statements are dangerous, hateful, and violate the principles of our movement, which is based on values of equality and dignity for all people,” he continued.
The Daily Caller reported that Shakir did not respond to several requests for comment about Qazwini’s previous sermons in which he vehemently opposed gay marriage.
In a July 2015 speech, Qazwini decried the lobbying of “homosexual groups.”
“Unfortunately, due to the lobbying of homosexual groups, the United States had to succumb to the pressure, and come to a point at which, instead of telling Americans that homosexuality is a form of disorder, they are telling Americans that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.”
Oh dear, that doesn’t sound very progressive!
