Detroit News: "A companion objective of AIPAC is to ensure antisemitism doesn't gain a significant foothold in this country. Helping deny a national platform to a man who stands on the stage with confirmed antisemites is essential to that work.
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) July 31, 2026
No one would object if the NAACP…
On March 12, 2026 an Arab-Muslim and naturalized citizen responded to an Israeli airstrike which had killed his two brothers and two children in Lebanon. He drove his vehicle into a hallway of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. No one was killed and no child was inured, though the driver shot himself dead after a gunfight with security officials, one of whom was injured.
In a brilliantly worded statement, deceptive statement, Abdul el-Sayed- now positioned to win the Democratic primate for Senate in Michigan- stated at 1:41 of this video:
Temple Israel is not the State of Israel. Jewish people are not hte State of Israel, Jewish people are not the political actors who make direct choices for the State of Israel.
We cannot, and must not, conflate these, an act rooted in antisemitism. One can have righteous anger at the actors of the State of Israel while expressing solidarity with the Jewish people, including Jewish people in Israel. The conflation of these, whether in the dastardly way Ayman Ghazali did or in an effort to use the specter of anisemitism to defend the indefensible, it sits at the root of our failure to stop this violence.
Ayman Ghazali, el-Sayed acknowledged, committed a violent, unjustified attack which, as the candidate noted, was not directed toward the real villians. Those are Israel- not the government of Israel, but the country itself- and its supporters, who "use the specter of anisemitism to defend the indefensible."
El-Sayed used the occasion to condemn Mr. Ghazali, probably because he is an easy target now that he is dead. He also himself conflated the perpetrator's act of terrorism- an effort to murder innocent children- with not only Israel, but its supporters.
The money quote, stated at 1:21 is "hurt people, hurt people," which seems to normal people to be an apologia for the attack on the synagogue. This was not an idle, toss away statement. Following his criticism of people sensitive to anti-Semitism as part of "the root of our failure to stop this violence," el-Sayed added the same phrase- "hut people, hurt people":- at 2:21, precisely a minute later.
Twice in 61 seconds in a sophisticated, highly artful statement is no coincidence. The "hurt people, hurt people" is not the best evidence that Michigan Democrats apparently are poised to nominate an anti-Semite for the United States Senate.
That would be the candidate's campaign appearances with Hasan Piker, a successful podcaster who appears to like Jews as much as he likes the USA. The latter blames Israel and the USA for the 10/7/23 attack, which included sexual violence he said "doesn't matter" to him. He celebrates the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, which he maintains "America deserved".
Such is the company Abdul el-Sayed keeps. Were I a Republican running for political office, I would denounce, not campaign alonside of, David Duke or any ex-Klansman offering his support. That would not be particularly admirable on my part; most people would do the same.
Consequently, it shouldn't be objectionable that AIPAC is going all out to block from the Democrtic nomination a candidate whose views are an abomination to Jews. In this case, too, it's a candidate whose views are an abomination to all who find hatred of Jews unacceptable. Michigan Democrats can choose to reject hatred. Or not.
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