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Right-Wing Catholic Off Trump Religion Panel After Israel-Gaza Remarks at Antisemitism Event
"I will not be bullied," said Carrie Prejean Boller. "I have the religious freedom to refuse support for a government that is bombing civilians and starving families in Gaza, and that does not make me an antisemite."
Feb 11, 2026
A conservative Catholic was expelled from President Donald Trump's so-called Religious Liberty Commission this week over remarks at a hearing on antisemitism in which she pushed back against those who conflate criticism of Israel and its genocidal war on Gaza with hatred of Jewish people.
Religious Liberty Commission Chair Dan Patrick, who is also Texas' Republican lieutenant governor, announced Wednesday that Carrie Prejean Boller had been ousted from the panel, writing on X that "no member... has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue."
"This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America," he claimed. "This was my decision."
Patrick added that Trump "respects all faiths"—even though at least 13 of the commission's remaining 15 members are Christian, only one is Jewish, and none are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or other religions to which millions of Americans adhere. A coalition of faith groups this week filed a federal lawsuit over what one critic described as the commission's rejection of "our nation’s religious diversity and prioritizing one narrow set of conservative ‘Judeo-Christian’ beliefs."
Noting that Israeli forces have killed "tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza," Prejean Boller asked panel participant and University of California Los Angeles law student Yitzchok Frankel, who is Jewish, "In a country built on religious liberty and the First Amendment, do you believe someone can stand firmly against antisemitism... and at the same time, condemn the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, or reject political Zionism, or not support the political state of Israel?"
"Or do you believe that speaking out about what many Americans view as genocide in Gaza should be treated as antisemitic?" added Prejean Boller, who also took aim at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which has been widely condemned for conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish bigotry.
Frankel replied "yes" to the assertion that anti-Zionism is antisemitic.
Prejean Boller also came under fire for wearing pins of US and Palestinian flags during Monday's hearing.
"I wore an American flag pin next to a Palestinian flag as a moral statement of solidarity with civilians who are being bombed, displaced, and deliberately starved in Gaza," Prejean Boller said Tuesday on X in response to calls for her resignation from the commission.
"I did this after watching many participants ignore, minimize, or outright deny what is plainly visible: a campaign of mass killing and starvation of a trapped population," she continued. "Silence in the face of that is not religious liberty, it is moral complicity. My Christian faith calls on me to stand for those who are suffering [and] in need."
"Forcing people to affirm Zionism as a condition of participation is not only wrong, it is directly contrary to religious freedom, especially on a body created to protect conscience," Prejean Boller stressed. "As a Catholic, I have both a constitutional right and a God-given freedom of religion and conscience not to endorse a political ideology or a government that is carrying out mass civilian killing and starvation."
Zionism is the movement for a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine—their ancestral birthplace—under the belief that God gave them the land. It has also been criticized as a settler-colonial and racist ideology, as in order to secure a Jewish homeland, Zionists have engaged in ethnic cleansing, occupation, invasions, and genocide against Palestinian Arabs.
Prejean Boller was Miss California in 2009 and Miss USA runner-up that same year. She launched her career as a Christian activist during the latter pageant after she answered a question about same-sex marriage by saying she opposed it. Then-businessman Trump owned most of Miss USA at the time and publicly supported Prejean Boller, saying "it wasn't a bad answer."
Since then, Prejean Boller has been known for her anti-LGBTQ+ statements and for paying parents and children for going without masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) commended Prejean Boller Wednesday "for using her position to oppose conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and encourage solidarity between Muslims, Christians, and Jews," calling her "one of a growing number of Americans, including political conservatives, who recognize that corrupted politicians have been trying to silence and smear Americans critical of the Israeli government under the guise of countering antisemitism."
"We also condemn Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick’s baseless and predictable decision to remove her from the commission for refusing to conflate antisemitism with criticism of the Israel apartheid government," CAIR added.
In her statement Tuesday, Prejean Boller said, "I will not be bullied."
"I have the religious freedom to refuse support for a government that is bombing civilians and starving families in Gaza, and that does not make me an antisemite," she insisted. "It makes me a pro-life Catholic and a free American who will not surrender religious liberty to political pressure."
"Zionist supremacy has no place on an American religious liberty commission," Prejean Boller added.
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Jewish Group Backs Lander Over Rep. Goldman, Citing Support for Bill to Block Bombs to Israel
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice lauded Lander's "long record as a progressive champion and his commitment to ending US complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
Feb 10, 2026
A leading progressive US Jewish group on Tuesday endorsed former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander for Congress over incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, citing the former's support for a bill that would block the sale of many offensive weapons to Israel amid the ongoing Gaza genocide.
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) said in a statement that it is endorsing Lander for New York's 10th Congressional District seat in June's Democratic primary due to "his long record as a progressive champion and his commitment to ending US complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
JFREJ specifically cited Lander's recent endorsement of the HR 3565, the Block the Bombs Act, legislation introduced last year by Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
The Jewish Vote proudly endorses @bradlander.bsky.social for U.S. Congress in NY10! He’s been a member of JFREJ for decades & we know Brad will bring this courage to Congress, where he’ll join the fight against fascism, oligarchy, and genocide.
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— Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Action (@jfrejnyc.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 6:42 AM
Backed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the bill would prohibit the sale of weapons like BLU-109 “bunker buster” bombs, MK-80 series bombs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), 120 mm tank rounds, and 155 mm artillery shells to Israel, whose 28-month assault and siege on Gaza have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing, according to Gaza officials.
Goldman does not support the bill. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was by far the largest single contributor to his campaign coffers during the last election cycle and, along with other pro-Israel lobby groups, has given nearly half a million dollars to his campaigns, according to AIPAC Tracker. There is no record of Lander ever taking AIPAC cash.
Billions of dollars worth of US-supplied weapons have played a critical role in Israel’s war and have been used in some of the deadliest Israel Defense Forces massacres of Palestinians.
United Nations experts, human rights groups, and others including the numerous nations backing South Africa's genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) contend that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Lander acknowledges the Gaza genocide. Goldman does not. Goldman was also one of 22 House Democrats who voted in favor of a Republican-led resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, for supporting Palestinian liberation "from the river to the sea."
Goldman told the New York Times last month that had the vote come up more recently, he "would look at it a very different way, and most likely vote differently."
Lander has said he would not have voted to censure Tlaib had he been serving in the House at the time of the vote.
“Brad Lander has been a progressive champion for years, and we are thrilled to endorse him for Congress representing NY-10,” said JFREJ executive director Audrey Sasson said Tuesday. “NY-10 constituents’ calls to end US complicity in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza have gone unanswered for so long."
"The district deserves a representative who will use the tools of government to fight the war machine, abolish ICE, and work to ensure a better future for all of us," Sasson added, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Brad Lander will be that representative, because he understands that the purpose of government is to serve the people, and he’s a public servant through and through."
Responding to the JFREJ endorsement, Lander said Tuesday that “I’ve been organizing with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice for three decades—and there’s never been a more urgent time than now."
"To fight the fascist in the White House," he added. "To end US complicity in Israel’s destruction of Gaza. To promote domestic and foreign policy that advances people’s rights, safety, and dignity here in New York City, around the country, in Israel and Palestine, and across the globe.”
Israeli forces are still killing Palestinians to this day, with more than 1,600 violations of an October ceasefire, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
"While the world’s attention has turned away, Israel’s bombs are still falling, paid for by US taxpayers," Lander wrote for the Nation Tuesday. "Hunger persists, as aid only trickles in."
“When I am elected to Congress," he added, "I will support the Block the Bombs Act to protect more Palestinians from being killed by Israel.”
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Investigation Reveals Israel 'Evaporated' Nearly 3,000 Palestinians With Thermal Weapons in Gaza
“We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
Feb 10, 2026
An investigation conducted by Al Jazeera based on evidence collected by the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip has concluded that nearly 3,000 Palestinians have been "evaporated" by Israel through the use of thermal weapons—some of them supplied by the US.
As reported by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the investigation found that 2,842 Palestinians were killed due to Israel's "systematic use of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, often referred to as vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius [6,332 degrees Fahrenheit]."
The heat generated by these weapons is so intense, investigators noted, that they leave behind almost no detectable human remains other than blood stains or pieces of flesh.
Israel's use of such weapons was flagged last year in a social media post by Omar Hamad, a Gaza pharmacist who posted a video purportedly showing a thermobaric bomb being detonated in Beit Hanoun.
Israel is using thermobaric (vacuum) bombs in Beit Hanoun. These are shock waves that spread in a circular and low pattern near the ground surface, preceding the appearance of the dust cloud by far, indicating a speed faster than the speed of sound.
This is genocide. pic.twitter.com/tA7jC61g33
— Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) July 13, 2025
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defense, said hat the investigation was not a mere estimate of Palestinians incinerated by thermal and thermobaric weapons, but the result of painstaking forensic work.
"We enter a targeted home and cross-reference the known number of occupants with the bodies recovered," Basal explained. "If a family tells us there were five people inside, and we only recover three intact bodies, we treat the remaining two as ‘evaporated’ only after an exhaustive search yields nothing but biological traces—blood spray on walls or small fragments like scalps."
Unlike the explosions caused by traditional bombs, the thermobaric weapons used by Israel in Gaza first disperse clouds of fuel in a given area that are then ignited to create an enormous and intense fireball.
The investigation found that the fuel typically used in Israeli thermobaric weapons was tritonal, a mixture consisting of 80% TNT and 20% aluminum powder often found in US-manufactured weapons such as the Mark 84 aircraft bomb.
Dr Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the heat generated by these weapons is so intense that any living creatures' bodily fluids will immediately boil.
"When a body is exposed to energy exceeding 3,000 degrees combined with massive pressure and oxidation, the fluids boil instantly," al-Bursh explained. "The tissues vaporize and turn to ash. It is chemically inevitable."
Gaza resident Yasmin Mahani told Al Jazeera that her son, Saad, was incinerated by a 2024 Israeli strike that hit a school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City.
“We found nothing of Saad," Mahani said. "Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
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