The imam, Shaaban Aboubadria, reportedly delivered a sermon on March 15 at the Minneapolis Masjid Al-Huda Islamic Center during which he said that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is “carrying the Zio-Crusader agenda.” The term “Zio” is an anti-Semitic slur that has been popularized by prominent American white supremacist David Duke.
“Who is the one that is killing Muslims in Syria? Isn’t it Russia? Are the Russian planes dropping chocolate on the innocent and unarmed civilians? Or are they dropping lethal and destructive incendiary bombs on them?” said Aboubadria. His statements were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
“And what about the bombs that criminal Israel is dropping on Gaza,” he continued. “We went to sleep with the bombing of Gaza, and woke up with the crime in New Zealand.”
The Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, publicly asked the congresswoman to “let your constituents and concerned Americans know whether you condemn or endorse these views delivered to your community from the pulpit of a Minneapolis mosque.”
According to the Jewish Journal, Omar neither condemned the comments to date nor did she respond to Jewish publication’s request for comment.