Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina passed away Saturday at the age of 71 after what his office described as a brief and sudden illness. The tributes rolled in from colleagues on both sides of the aisle, from foreign leaders, and from just about everyone who ever shared a green room with the man. And then there was Dallas Muslim leader Omar Suleiman, who decided the appropriate response was to wish the deceased senator an eternity in ruins.
As The American Tribune reported, Suleiman posted a message shortly after Graham's death was announced that quoted several of Graham's past remarks supporting Israel's military operations in Gaza. The quotes included Graham saying, "I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do," and "Level the place," and "Do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin." Suleiman then signed off with "Bye Lindsey" before adding, "May you live an eternity in ruins for the ruins you helped create in Gaza. Ameen."
Nothing says spiritual leadership quite like dancing on a freshly dug grave before the dirt has even settled.
What makes this particularly awkward for certain people in Washington is that Suleiman is not some random social media troll yelling into the void. This is a man who was invited by then-Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas to deliver the opening invocation before the U.S. House of Representatives during Ramadan in 2019. He stood at the podium in one of the most ceremonial settings in American government and led a prayer. So he has been treated as a respected, mainstream religious figure by Democratic leadership, which is a detail that aged like milk left in the sun.
Activist Amy Mek, founder of Rise, Align, Ignite, Reclaim USA Foundation, highlighted Suleiman's post on Sunday, calling it "an open celebration of an American Senator's death." She described Suleiman as one of America's "most dangerous Imams" and took aim at Democrats and what she called the "Red-Green alliance" for continuing to "embrace and platform him." Mek argued they had "invited him to Congress to pray to Allah" and treated him as a normal religious leader, which she said was especially disturbing given that he had just publicly celebrated a senator's death.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a starkly different response, saying, "America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend." Netanyahu added that his heart was with Graham's family and said he hoped Graham's values would continue guiding efforts toward "victory and peace."
Graham had served in the Senate since 2003 and was one of the most visible pro-Israel voices in Congress, particularly after the October 7 Hamas attacks. He had recently traveled to Ukraine and met with President Zelenskyy. His hawkish positions on Israel made him a frequent target of anti-Israel activists, but there is a considerable gap between political criticism of a sitting senator and gleefully wishing eternal damnation on a man whose body is barely cold.
You would think a religious leader who once had the honor of praying before Congress might have a slightly more dignified response to death. But apparently the invocation was just a networking event.
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