Husham Al-Husainy, a radical Islamic cleric who refused to call Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, has been invited to deliver a Benediction at the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump. The event is scheduled to take place on 20th January this year.
Husainy, who has a history of extremism, will speak immediately at the inauguration ceremony after the address by Donald Trump. He is also the imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in Michigan.
According to a report by the Middle East Forum, Husainy is an anti-Semitic, pro-Hezbollah Shia imam. In 2015, he had called death upon Suni-majority Saudi Arabia for attacking Yemen.
He had also eulogised terrorist Hassan Nasrallah during a pro-Hezbollah rally in 2006. Husham Al-Husainy had also demonised US security forces as ‘oppressors and occupiers’ for its war against Iraq.
Despite such an extremist track record, the Islamic cleric has been invited to the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump.
Interestingly, Husham Al-Husainy extended his support to Trump in October 2024 for opposing gay marriage and upholding ‘conservative values’.
Appointment of Harmeet Dhillon in Trump 2.0 cabinet
The development comes a month after Donald Trump appointed Harmeet K. Dhillon as the Assistant Attorney General for civil rights.
Dhillon had long been accused of being a terror sympathiser and harbouring Khalistani sentiments—an extremist ideology that uses violence as a tool to push its objectives and calls for the secession of the Punjab state from India and the establishment of an independent Sikh-majority Khalistan.
Nothing corroborates her pro-Khalistan bent more starkly than her stance on the Khalistani Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
In March 2024, she quoted The Economist report on how Indian migrants were helping PM Narendra Modi in campaigning at home and lobbying for India abroad.
Quoting the report, Dhillon repeated the baseless accusations that the Indian government is assassinating critics in the diaspora.
