Uygur Ad Tells Michigan Voters Israel Is Why They Can’t Afford Groceries |

A new ad from a political action committee founded by Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, tells Michigan voters that their struggles to afford groceries and health care are Israel’s fault, days before the state’s tight Senate race.

The spot, paid for by Rebellion PAC, backs Democrat Abdul El-Sayed against Republican Mike Rogers. It shows a family in a grocery store worrying over food prices and denied health care, and ties their hardship to American support for Israel. Uygur promoted the ad on X on October 24, writing: “We have to suffer here at home, so Israel can get all its wars. That’s why they buy politicians like Mike Rogers.” He added that Rogers had promised to serve Israel “unconditionally,” but never made that promise to Michigan voters.

The ad is an independent expenditure, and its disclaimer states that it was not authorized by any candidate.

Critics say the ad repackages an old antisemitic trope for a modern campaign: ordinary people are suffering, and the Jews are to blame. Simone Rodan-Benzaquen said it was one of the most antisemitic political ads she had ever seen, summarizing its message as: your life is hard, groceries are expensive, and the Jewish state is why.

The ad’s economic claims also fall apart on inspection. US military aid to Israel can by law only be spent on American-made weapons, meaning the money flows back into the US defense industry rather than coming out of Michigan families’ grocery or health care budgets. Critics pointed out that Israel has also bought more than $1 billion in additional American arms since October 7.

Uygur responded to the backlash with derision. He dismissed the criticism as the reflexive “antisemite” charge, and claimed people were being called antisemites simply for refusing to fund Israel’s “genocide.” In another post, he asked supporters to donate so the ad could run more, writing that doing so would “drive the radical Zionists crazy.”

It is not the first time Uygur has framed the race around Israel. Appearing on Piers Morgan in September, he declared that Rogers “works for Israel” and urged voters: “Do not let Israel buy that seat.”

The ad lands in a race where El-Sayed’s record on Israel and the Jewish community is already a central issue. El-Sayed has called Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide and made opposition to US military aid to Israel a pillar of his campaign. After a March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, in which a man rammed a truck into the synagogue, which houses a preschool, El-Sayed condemned the attack but followed up with a video saying “hurt people hurt people.” He referred to the attacker having lost family in an Israeli strike in Lebanon. Many Jewish voters saw the remark as justifying the attack. El-Sayed apologized in August, telling the state Democratic Party’s Jewish caucus, “I made a mistake.” Around the same time, he distanced himself from Hasan Piker, the anti-Israel streamer who had campaigned with him.

Rogers has made outreach to Jewish voters central to his campaign. The pro-Israel group AIPAC’s super PAC has also resumed spending in the race, sending $95,000 in mailers opposing El-Sayed.

Polls show a close contest. A Marist poll conducted October 15 to 18 put El-Sayed at 50% and Rogers at 48% among likely voters, and the RealClearPolitics average gives El-Sayed a lead of about two points ahead of the November 3 election. If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim US senator.