The Michigan Senate hopes that El-Sayed avoids Israel’s right to exist in the question
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Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed took issue with Israel’s right to be present during a heated CNN interview on Thursday, in addition to several media reports he has deleted about the withdrawal of police funding.
“AIPAC is a big part of this conversation because Israel has become a major topic, especially within the Democratic Party, but also nationally. Do you believe that Israel has a right to exist?” CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked.
El-Sayed replied, “So, Kasie, AIPAC has become a big issue in this election because AIPAC has already spent $30 million in this election – they’re the biggest spender in the race. Now, the question about the right to exist is interesting, because no one has ever asked me if I believe Palestine has a right to exist. Every single president in two terms has said they believe Israel has a solution. Our money goes to Israel to sponsored genocide and apartheid instead of educating our children.”
Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate for the US Senate in Michigan, speaks before Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
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Hunt noted that he said Israel exists, but then asked him if the country has a right to exist.
“I didn’t say that. I just said that the question of Israel’s existence is not a question. I will not play this gotcha game about whether it has a right to exist or not. The question, in the end, is about whether or not we want a politics that respects equal rights,” he replied.
The CNN host asked a third time, “You’re not going to play gotcha, but aren’t you going to say that you think Israel has a right to exist?”
Abdul El-Sayed, who represents the US Senate from Michigan, was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and accepted the comparison between him and Zohran Mamdani. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
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El-Sayed again dodged and responded with a question he believes they should be asking instead, “Does everyone have equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination? Does that include Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians?”
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“And to me, the people who should answer what complete peace looks like should be the Jews, the Israelis, and the Palestinians. I want my tax dollars to be spent here in Michigan – to provide schools in Michigan, to build health care in Michigan, to invest in Michigan – rather than being sent abroad to kill the Palestinian people through genocide and apartheid. The question of whether Israel has a right to the existence of the tax, “our right to continue the existence of the dollar.
He added, “So if you want to ask me about the Palestinian right to exist, if you want to ask me what I want to do for the kids in Michigan, I’m happy to answer those questions. But AIPAC and Israel have become questions that a lot of people have to answer, because our tax dollars continue to be spent over there rather than here.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for further comment.
Abdul El-Sayed, speaking before Sen. Bernie Sanders takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
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Hunt then brought up deleted social media posts, expressing support for the police action, among other things.
“Many large US cities spend WAY TOO much on police departments to police poverty AND DO TOO MUCH on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, and housing to end poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is all about,” El-Sayed wrote in another. June 2020 post on X, just a few weeks after the death of George Floyd.
Hunt asked if he stood by what he said before or if he thought police departments should be subsidized.
El-Sayed cited his work as director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services in Wayne County, Michigan.
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He pressed and asked again.
“Listen to my work, I funded this program because it needs to be funded. Many times the discussion we have is fund or defund. The question we don’t ask is, what kind of program do we really want? I want us to invest in the types of interventions that really protect people,” he said, pointing out employment and retirement to maintain the law, public health interventions, social behavior interventions.
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El-Sayed then took a shot at CNN and added, “And I think this debate about 2020 and the way tweets are going to be played is really good for CNN. If you’re looking for clicks, it’s not that successful, and nobody’s really asking me about it on the streets or in the communities of Michigan. So if you want to talk about housing or health care or politics, I think that’s a lot of questions that people are dealing with in our political organization, I think that’s business questions I was actually asking about what they want their next senator to do in the state of Michigan, rather than clickbait in DC.”
