WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin could have been the next victim of prankster Sacha Baron Cohen — but his alert congressional staff smelled a rat.

Zeldin’s office got a convincing interview request on Feb. 8 from an Israeli TV station that claimed Zeldin, a Jewish Republican active on pro-Israel causes, was selected as one of 70 people being honored to mark Israel’s 70th anniversary.

The station asked if Zeldin would be available for a one-hour interview in DC.

It’s a ruse that duped many high-level politicians, from Dick Cheney to Sarah Palin to Roy Moore.

Katie Vincentz, communications director for Zeldin, said his staff became wary when they checked out the TV station — Yerushalayim Television — and found it had minimal presence online and very little social media activity.

Also, the producer had an American name.

“To be candid, it was a little suspicious that someone who was the producer of Yerushalayim Television in Israel would be ‘Julia Harris’,” Vincentz said.

She said red flags also popped when staffers went online to look for the award Zeldin was supposedly receiving.

“There was no mention anywhere of this big award, which was surprising especially in light of the big names they claimed to have interviewed,” Vincentz said.

Those bold-faced names included Bono, Steven Spielberg, Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair.

Pols who fell for Cohen’s trap unknowingly became stars on his Showtime comedy, “Who is America?”

Cohen dresses in disguise while interviewing prominent figures and gets them to agree to embarrassing stunts.

Posing as an Israeli military official — Col. Erran Morad — Cohen tricked Moore into participating in a pedophile detector test, got Georgia state lawmaker Jason Spencer to drop his pants and convinced several pols to endorse the arming of toddlers.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got the same email request as Zeldi and fell for it.

Gaetz, an ally of President Trump, is big fan of Cohen’s “Borat” character, but said he had no idea he was talking to the famed trickster.

He managed to escape embarrassment by refusing to agree to read an endorsement for a sham program called “Kinderguardians” that arms kids in Israel from as young as 3 in schools.

“You want me to say on television that I support 3- and 4-year-olds with firearms?” a skeptical Gaetz said. “Is that what you’re asking me to do?”

“Yes,” Cohen – as Col. Erran Morad – said.

“Typically, members of Congress don’t just hear a story about a program and indicate whether they support it or not,” the lawmaker responded.

But that didn’t stop other GOP politicians with pro-gun stances from being tricked into reading a teleprompter endorsement of the kiddie gun program.

California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi all taped ridiculous endorsements in favor of arming tots with guns in America like Israel supposedly does.

Gaetz said one aversion saved him from being the butt of a joke.

“I will not read anything that is put on a Teleprompter in front of me,” Gaetz told TMZ.

“I think the folks who said those things probably deeply regret it,” Gaetz said of his fellow lawmakers.