{"id":3937,"date":"2026-08-06T03:30:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=3937"},"modified":"2026-08-06T03:30:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:30:03","slug":"israel-critic-wins-us-senate-primary-despite-record-aipac-spending-on-rival-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=3937","title":{"rendered":"Israel critic wins US Senate primary despite record AIPAC spending on rival (VIDEOS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdul El-Sayed has vowed to protect the Jewish community amid accusations of anti-Semitism<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive and staunch critic of Israel\u2019s wars in the Middle East, has narrowly won Michigan\u2019s Democratic US Senate primary despite record spending by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC in support of his rival.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants and a former health official who has never held elected office, received 48.48% of the vote on Tuesday, according to the AP. His main opponent, moderate Representative Haley Stevens, received 47.51%. El-Sayed would become the first Muslim US senator if he defeats former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in November.<\/p>\n

Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed repeatedly described Israel\u2019s war in Gaza as a \u201cgenocide\u201d<\/em> and argued that the Israeli government was \u201cbloodthirsty\u201d<\/em> and as \u201cevil\u201d<\/em> as Hamas. He said he opposed \u201cunconditional\u201d<\/em> military aid to any country, including Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to fund a foreign military that does genocide, apartheid, or is taking us to a war we don\u2019t need to fight. I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians alike,\u201d<\/em> the Democrat told CNN.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT\"
Tara Reade: The US is handing its war machine to Israel<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent $32 million to help Stevens, an amount the AP described as the group\u2019s largest-ever investment in a single race. According to the New York Times, AIPAC funding accounted for more than half of the money spent by dozens of outside groups on advertising supporting Stevens.<\/p>\n

Several Jewish organizations denounced El-Sayed\u2019s stance, including the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA). The American Jewish Committee (AJC) described his victory as \u201ca deeply troubling reflection of the growing mainstreaming of divisive rhetoric and exclusionary politics in America.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Speaking in Las Vegas on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said El-Sayed was \u201cfull of s**t\u201d<\/em> and a \u201cman of hate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t love Jewish people. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart,\u201d<\/em> Trump said.<\/p>\n

\n

Trump: Abdul El-Sayed\u2014He\u2019s a man of hate. He doesn’t love Israel. He doesn\u2019t love Jewish people. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart. There’s not a thing he can do about it because he hates them. pic.twitter.com\/MGBw8KUaTm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) August 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vice President J.D. Vance also sharply criticized El-Sayed that evening in an interview with Fox News.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe represents the modern Democratic coalition, which is self-hating white liberals united to people who just came to the country for the first time and don\u2019t actually have the sense of appreciation for it,\u201d<\/em> Vance said.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed has denied accusations of anti-Semitism and vowed to protect the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to know that my commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters,\u201d<\/em> he said during his victory speech.<\/p>\n

\n

NEW: Abdul El-Sayed addresses Jewish Michiganders after repeated accusations of anti-Semitism throughout his campaign:<\/p>\n

“I want to speak specifically to an issue that has been focused on in this race.”<\/p>\n

“To my Jewish American sisters and brothers… I want you to know that my\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/R0ZQ8ECqEh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fox News (@FoxNews) August 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Several Democratic politicians highly critical of Israel have risen to prominence in recent years, including democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who was elected mayor of New York last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abdul El-Sayed has vowed to protect the Jewish community amid accusations of anti-Semitism Abdul El-Sayed,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}