Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller now running for Congress in New York's 10th Congressional District, walked into a Queens mosque led by a notorious Holocaust denier, recited a chapter of the Quran in Arabic, called himself "a proud Jewish New Yorker," and then pledged to partner with Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib in Congress. If you think that sentence sounds like it was generated by a broken AI, I assure you it's painfully real.

You genuinely cannot parody these people anymore. They've lapped us.

According to the Free Beacon, Lander showed up at the Al-Khoei Islamic Center in Queens on May 15, 2026, where he recited Surat al-Ikhlas — a Quranic verse — in Arabic for the congregation. As Atlantic writer and former Bush speechwriter David Frum pointed out, the verse Lander recited was "an Arabic-language denunciation of the Christian doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Jewish candidates for office normally show more respect for the majority faith in this country."

So a Jewish Democrat walked into a mosque run by a man who thinks the Holocaust numbers were faked, recited an Islamic verse that rejects the core belief of Christianity, and then promised to defund Israel. That's not a bad joke. That's a congressional campaign in New York City.

The mosque's imam, Sheikh Fadhel Al-Sahlani, told the New York Sun back in 2006 that Jewish deaths in the Holocaust had been "exaggerated," saying "the numbers which have been mentioned are too much." He cited infamous Holocaust denier David Irving as a source. And in November 2023, Al-Sahlani praised the terror group Hamas, declaring "Hamas has made a big difference not only for the Arab Muslim world, but the whole world, mashallah."

This is the man whose house of worship Lander chose for his photo op.

But Lander wasn't just there to chant. He had policy promises to deliver. Standing before the congregation, Lander declared, "Israel's genocide in Gaza is a desecration, a violation of the understanding that everyone is created in God's image." He went further, claiming Israel's "occupation" of Lebanon is "on its way potentially to being a genocide as well."

Then came the big pledge: "In Congress, I will not vote for any more U.S. military aid to Israel." Not the bombs, not the aid, nothing. A Jewish man standing in a Holocaust denier's mosque, promising to cut off the Jewish state. You'd think the irony would physically hurt.

Lander also made clear exactly which team he's joining in Washington. "The kind of partnership I developed with Zohran I hope to come to have with Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar," he told the crowd. That's Zohran Mamdani, New York City's current mayor, who has visited Al-Sahlani's mosque at least three times since January 2025. The Squad pipeline from NYC is alive and well.

And during the event, the imam offered a Shia prayer — the Ziarat of Imam Mahdi — that included a request for "the killing of the infidels by your sword." Just your standard congressional campaign backdrop.

Here's the kicker: it's working. An Emerson College poll released on May 21, 2026, shows Lander crushing the incumbent, AIPAC-backed Rep. Dan Goldman, by 37 points — Lander at 57% to Goldman's 23%. The Democratic primary voters of New York's 10th District are watching this man prostrate himself at a Holocaust denier's mosque and saying, "Yes, more of that please."

We talk a lot about the Islamist power grab in New York City politics, and this is what it looks like in real time. It's not some shadowy conspiracy. It's a white progressive Democrat openly chanting the Quran in Arabic at a mosque where the imam praises Hamas and denies the Holocaust — and polling at nearly 60% for it.

The pandering has gone so far past parody that parody filed a restraining order.