On Friday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Moment,” Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed responded to concerns about his stances on antisemitism by saying that “I do reject the idea that, somehow, criticizing Israel and Israel’s actions and a genocide that was perpetrated by our tax dollars is the same as the idea of rejecting anybody for their faith or their identity.” And “if we want to allow disagreements about public policy relevant to a country 6,000 miles away to stop us from coming together to address the challenges in our own country, I want us to just focus in on what our responsibility is, collectively, as Democrats in Michigan.”
El-Sayed began by responding to a question on how he joins Michigan’s different voting groups together by saying that “We all agree that Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy, our ability to afford the basic things we need in our lives, and Mike Rogers would be nothing but a rubber stamp for him. This guy is corrupt and cowardly, and we have to defeat him. And, look, I know we had a really tough primary. We had a lot of these debates out loud, very loud. I got $70 million spent against me from the likes of AIPAC and corporate PACs and all of the other PACs. But that debate is settled. We have an opportunity now to take back the U.S. Senate, to hold Donald Trump accountable, and to pass legislation that will address the existential challenges that we face in our lives, and that should bring us all together. If folks want to continue to litigate the past or the primary, my worry is, do you not see the opportunity to come together and the existential threat in the future?”
Host Katy Tur then asked, “It’s also emotional for a lot of people, and there’s fear tied up in it, and for some Jewish voters, Democratic voters in Michigan, they’re worried that you don’t fully represent them or don’t fully see them. You’re going to talk to, on Sunday, the Jewish Democratic Caucus in Michigan for their Summer Simcha event. This is what the Caucus Chair, Decky Alexander, said she wanted to hear from you, she said, ‘There is a lot of profound — and still is — anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric coming out of that campaign, [and] it has to be addressed more directly.’ ‘It has to be addressed, otherwise people will continue to write more letters [like that.]’ What are you going to say to them?”
El-Sayed responded, “To be anti-Israel is not the same as to be anti-Jewish, and to oppose what Israel has done is not an indictment on Jewish people. I think we have a responsibility to stand up and remind folks that Judaism and the Jewish people are a light unto the world, that my commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to my own daughter’s safety. I know what it’s like to be discriminated against for how I pray, but I do reject the idea that, somehow, criticizing Israel and Israel’s actions and a genocide that was perpetrated by our tax dollars is the same as the idea of rejecting anybody for their faith or their identity. We have to be able to separate the two. I’m looking forward to the event. This is going to be the second time in this campaign that I’ve gone and spoken with my Jewish neighbors, sisters, and brothers. But let’s also be clear, because all of us right now have a responsibility to ask, what does Donald Trump’s continued power through the Senate mean, and what is our responsibility to hold him accountable? This is a guy who has fomented the worst kind of hatred, hatred against Jewish people, hatred against Muslim people, hatred against black folk, hatred against the ideals of this government itself, the ideals of our country itself. And Mike Rogers is going to do nothing but rubberstamp that. And I just want to be — one more thing here: When Jake Lang, a convicted January 6 terrorist, came to Michigan just a couple of weeks ago, alongside him was somebody who was a leader in the Rogers campaign. The day after, they began to circulate Nazi and KKK fliers. That’s something we all have to take on. Now, if we want to allow disagreements about public policy relevant to a country 6,000 miles away to stop us from coming together to address the challenges in our own country, I want us to just focus in on what our responsibility is, collectively, as Democrats in Michigan.”
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