El-Sayed, meanwhile, said during the debate that the United States\u2019 foreign policy \u201chas been handed to us\u201d by Israel and AIPAC and called Israel a \u201crogue state.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Wayne County health director whose grassroots campaign has gained momentum as it has increasingly centered anti-Israel rhetoric, did not hold back in his criticism.<\/p>\n
\t Citing \u201cthe impact of AIPAC in our politics\u201d as the reason for the joint US-Israeli war on Iran, El-Sayed asserted that the lobbyist\u2019s goals were \u201cto annex Lebanon or to do genocide in Gaza.\u201d He added that Israel was committing \u201chuman rights abuses, genocide and apartheid\u201d and called for the United States to \u201cstop funding the Israeli military unilateral blank checks.\u201d<\/p>\n He also tied voters\u2019 economic woes to Israel. \u201cAsk yourself why it is that we are paying $5 gas, why it is that we can\u2019t get out of this quagmire,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s because for too long, our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the state of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that both Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding.\u201d<\/p>\n He further claimed there was no difference between his Democratic opponent and the presumptive Republican nominee, former congressman Mike Rogers, on Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Congresswoman Stevens makes it, or if Mike Rogers wins, either way, Israel will win,\u201d El-Sayed said. \u201cAIPAC is perfectly fine with either of my two opponents because they know they will have a comfortable, reliable vote in the US Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n Stevens, who noted that she supports a two-state solution, rejected the line of attack. \u201cNo one owns my vote and no one owns my policies,\u201d she said. \u201cAnyone who\u2019s contributing to my Senate campaign is doing so because of my proven record of fighting for Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n El-Sayed also suggested that Stevens\u2019 sparring with Netanyahu, who is deeply unpopular with American voters, was ingenuine. Earlier in the day, Netanyahu told CNN that he believed Stevens\u2019 previous comments accusing him of making American Jews less safe represented her \u201cprobably trying to excuse antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n Sayed said he wasn\u2019t convinced the remark was authentic. \u201cI don\u2019t think Benjamin Netanyahu is attacking her to actually attack her,\u201d he said at the debate. \u201cI think he\u2019s attacking her to try and steer away the stink of how staunchly she stands for their policy.\u201d<\/p>\n El-Sayed also attacked Stevens over a June 2025 vote she made in the House to \u201cthank\u201d Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers. The appreciation was embedded in a resolution condemning the firebombing of a peaceful march for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado. Stevens accused Republicans of having \u201cput in a cynical point\u201d about thanking ICE and El-Sayed of falling into a trap laid by the GOP.<\/p>\n \t Israel has grown increasingly central ahead of the Michigan primary, set for August 4, in a crucial battleground state with large populations of both Jewish and Arab\/Muslim voters. A third candidate who sought to tread a middle ground between Stevens and El-Sayed suspended her campaign earlier this week, ratcheting up anxiety among American Jews around the race.<\/p>\n Stevens\u2019 bid for the Senate comes four years after she ousted Andy Levin, a Jewish progressive congressman who expressed criticism of Israel, in a race that drew more than $4 million in AIPAC-affiliated spending. In the years since, she has remained in a dwindling minority of House Democrats who have voted against all measures that would block or condition military aid to Israel.<\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s bid comes as other anti-Israel progressives have prevailed in congressional primaries, shifting campaign discourse about Israel to the left. In an interview with CNN also published Tuesday, El-Sayed took aim at the very idea of a Jewish state.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery definition of a Jewish state ends up in some articulation of illiberal values, every single one,\u201d he told CNN. Asked if support for Israel could ever be about more than money, he responded, \u201cNot if you\u2019re a Democrat and you believe in human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Other Michigan races are also turning into referendums on the Democratic stance on Israel. El-Sayed has cross-endorsed two left-wing congressional candidates, state Rep. Donavan McKinney and activist William Lawrence, who have both said Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Stevens, meanwhile, has endorsed pro-Israel Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss for her House seat.<\/p>\n Further down the ballot in Michigan, Democratic activist Abbas Alawieh, a key architect of the 2024 \u201cUncommitted\u201d movement designed to pressure national Democrats on Gaza, on Tuesday picked up the endorsement of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in his bid for a state senate seat on the party ticket. Alawieh has also met with former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost Michigan to Donald Trump in the general election after the state\u2019s large Arab\/Muslim population expressed strong dissatisfaction with her stance on Israel.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tAbdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan, addresses delegates during the Michigan Democratic Party State Endorsement Convention, April 19, 2026, in Detroit. (AP\/Jose Juarez)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26109721106437-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tRep. Haley Stevens, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate, addresses the media during a news conference at the Michigan Democratic Party State Endorsement Convention, April 19, 2026, in Detroit. (AP\/Jose Juarez)<\/p>\n
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