{"id":240496,"date":"2026-08-08T03:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/240496\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:12:14","slug":"el-sayed-win-spotlights-democratic-divide-over-israel-jewish-voters-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/240496\/","title":{"rendered":"El-Sayed win spotlights Democratic divide over Israel, Jewish voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s victory in Michigan\u2019s Democratic Senate primary<\/a> is putting a longstanding divide within the Democratic Party back in the spotlight, as the progressive nominee faces questions over his positions on Israel, concerns from some Jewish voters and new scrutiny of his campaign donors.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed\u2019s primary victory marked a significant win for the party\u2019s progressive wing, but he now faces the challenge of uniting Democrats ahead of November.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said El-Sayed has \u201ca lot of stuff to explain,\u201d particularly to Jewish voters.<\/p>\n

Some Jewish voters and leaders have raised concerns about El-Sayed\u2019s record and rhetoric surrounding Israel. Among the flashpoints are his appearances with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who previously drew backlash for saying America \u201cdeserved\u201d the Sept. 11 attacks, and El-Sayed\u2019s reluctance to directly answer questions about Israel\u2019s right to exist.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed also faced criticism over his response to a March attack on a Michigan synagogue. While condemning the violence, he pointed to the suspect\u2019s reported loss of family members in Middle East conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurt people hurt people,\u201d El-Sayed said in a video message. \u201cImagine if there were no war in Iran. Imagine if there were no airstrikes in Lebanon. Imagine if his family had never died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns about antisemitism are also surfacing within Michigan\u2019s Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, said she will not attend the state Democratic Party convention later this month, citing concerns about her safety and antisemitic harassment.<\/p>\n

Asked about Nessel\u2019s concerns on CNN Thursday, El-Sayed said it was important \u201cto differentiate between safety and between our different political positions about the interests of a foreign government.\u201d<\/p>\n

El-Sayed has said he condemns antisemitism and is focused on bringing Democrats together.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, his campaign is facing additional scrutiny over its financial supporters.<\/p>\n

Federal campaign records show more than $100,000 in contributions to El-Sayed came from people affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The Muslim civil rights organization has faced allegations of ties to terrorism, which it denies.<\/p>\n

CAIR is not designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the federal government. Florida, however, has designated the organization as a terrorist group under state action, a move CAIR is challenging in court.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in November in a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

The contest is also highlighting a broader challenge for Democrats nationally as progressives and moderates continue to clash over Israel, the war in Gaza and the party\u2019s relationship with Jewish voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s victory in Michigan\u2019s Democratic Senate primary is putting a longstanding divide within the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2492,33591,57192,45003,37,53413,8576,25550],"class_list":["post-240496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-cair","tag-democratic-primary","tag-el-sayed","tag-israel","tag-jewish-voters","tag-michigan","tag-u-s-senate"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117057706009762039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}