Tel Aviv – American Jewish Leaders Expressed Outrage Over The Place Of Honor Given To Virulently Antisemitic Nation Of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan At Aretha Franklin’s Funeral On Friday.

Farrakhan was seated in the front row alongside other controversial African-American figures, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Former president Bill Clinton sat three places to Farrakhan’s left.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “jarring” to see a “hatemonger” like Farrakhan at the funeral.

“It was absolutely jarring to see one of America’s leading purveyors of antisemitism given a place of such prominence at Aretha’s funeral,” Greenblatt told the Algemeiner. “We join the country in mourning the Queen of Soul, but this was an honor that an unapologetic hatemonger like Farrakhan didn’t deserve.”

Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center charged Farrakhan with despising America and Jews.

“Like millions of other Americans who grew up listening to Aretha Franklin’s amazing voice, I was saddened by her passing. Putting Louis Farrakhan in a seat of honor in the first row on stage, near President Clinton and amidst a generation of African-American political and religious leaders was equally saddening,” Cooper said in a statement to the Algemeiner. – READ MORE

After watching legendary singer Aretha Franklin’s funeral on Friday, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum had just one question: Why was Louis Farrakhan, an avowed anti-Semite, featured so prominently at the funeral?

Farrakhan — the leader of the Nation of Islam whom many see as a racist, sexist, and black nationalist with controversial views on racial reconciliation — sat just three seats down from former President Bill Clinton during the funeral services.

While discussing the funeral service with a panel, MacCallum expressed her confusion over Farrakhan’s presence.

“There were some beautiful performances today at Aretha Franklin’s funeral in Detroit. The guests ranging from world leaders to musical legends and one especially controversial figure seated in the front row. Many people kind of wondering what the unapologetic anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan was doing up there,” MacCallum said.- READ MORE