Kamala's criminal justice reform campaigner accused Israel and America of “apartheid” in a fiery sermon following the Hamas attack

Reverend Frederick Haynes also praised the anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan as a “wonderful and great man.”

In a sermon last month, the Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III told congregants at his Dallas church about two encounters he had with longtime criminal justice reform ally Kamala Harris after she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Yo, you could have given your son a ride on Air Force Two,” Haynes jokingly told the vice president when they met backstage at an American Federation of Teachers conference in Houston on July 25. Just the day before, their paths had crossed at a black sorority conference in Indianapolis, Haynes said.

Harris and Haynes, the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, have known each other for more than two decades. They worked together “in the early days of the criminal justice reform movement,” Harris said at a Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference on July 16, 2023.

“I have complete confidence in his leadership and ability to continue the great traditions of this organization and meet the current challenges,” Harris said. “Congratulations, Reverend Haynes.”

And they remained in close contact during Harris' rise to the Democratic nomination. Haynes visited the vice president's residence and participated in a roundtable discussion Harris convened at the White House on February 29. Haynes told the Washington Post This month, he is staying in touch with Harris and talking to her about how she can apply her religious beliefs to her role in government.

This level of access to the potential commander in chief could be a cause for concern given Haynes' anti-American and anti-Israel views.

On October 8, the day after Hamas fighters slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, Haynes delivered an explicitly anti-Israel sermon in which he rejected a “staged war” between Israel and Hamas and described both Israel and the United States as “apartheid” regimes.

“I know we have to be pro-Israel, yes, we have to, otherwise we'll get in trouble,” Haynes said mockingly. “So, I'm coming to get in trouble.”

“The Palestinians don't have the financial support of the United States that Israel does, and so they throw their stones and shoot their arrows, and Israel can bomb them and kill them,” Haynes said. “It's totally unfair, but this country will side with apartheid because that's its history so far. It supported apartheid in South Africa because it created apartheid in this country.”

Haynes, who in 2017 praised anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan as a “wonderful and great man,” in January called on the Biden-Harris administration to demand an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza. At a DNC event in 2020, Haynes said supporters of a border wall “can go to hell.” In his Oct. 8 sermon, Haynes repeatedly criticized “Governor DeNazi,” a nickname he coined for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

It's unclear exactly how Harris met Haynes, but they share a common connection through San Francisco Rev. Amos Brown. Haynes grew up in Brown's Third Baptist Church, while Harris has been a member of the church for more than 20 years and worked on Brown's 2000 campaign for San Francisco Supervisor. She called Brown a “perpetual inspiration to me” and invited him to deliver the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention this month.

The Washington Free Beacon It was recently reported that Brown blamed the United States for 9/11 at a memorial service days after the 2001 attacks. “Ohhhhh, America, what have you done?” said Brown, whose remarks were condemned at the time by California Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the families of the victims.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Haynes considers himself a friend and “mentee” of another hot-headed pastor with political connections.

Haynes has worked for decades with Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's former pastor. Obama's 2008 campaign was nearly derailed when footage surfaced several years earlier of Wright shouting “Goddamn America” ​​during a sermon on U.S. foreign policy. Haynes called Wright an “adoptive father” and defended the pastor against what he called “media lynching” surrounding the feud with Obama.

Haynes has advocated for Wright before, most notably when Wright was embroiled in a sex scandal involving Haynes' executive assistant.

The assistant, Elizabeth Payne, claimed Haynes fired her in August 2008 after he discovered she had exchanged steamy emails with Wright. The emails, released as part of the lawsuit, show Wright calling Payne “sexy” and making other remarks. Payne claimed she was fired because of the emails and because she was the only white and Hispanic person working at Haynes' church.

Haynes said he was “not interested” in reading the emails at issue in the case, according to documents obtained by the Free Beacon. Payne claimed during the trial that Haynes may have been involved in an affair herself. In her testimony, she said she opened mail addressed to Haynes that contained a photograph of a bare-breasted woman. Payne said she brought the photograph to the attention of church officials because she had recently wired money to the woman.

Neither the Harris campaign nor Haynes responded to requests for comment.