Rep. Brian Mast wears an IDF uniform to House Republican meeting

"Some Republicans have responded to the Palestinian flag outside Palestinian American Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s office by proposing a measure to ban all non-U.S. flags from Congress. Rep. Brian Mast took a different approach: For the latest meeting at which House Republicans are trying to find a speaker, he showed up in an Israel Defense Forces uniform, saying, “Tlaib has her flag, I got my uniform.”

Mast volunteered with the IDF in January 2015, packing medical kits and moving supplies. Previously, he was in the U.S. Army for 12 years, losing both of his legs and a finger when, working as a bomb disposal technician, he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. He likes to talk about how he’s “the only Member of Congress who has worn the uniform of both the U.S. Army and the Israeli Defense Forces.”