Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, stated that he would not vote to supply defensive weapons to Israel if Iran or another state attacked it the following day. "That's a no," he declared during Thursday's debate against Republican Mike Rogers in Grand Rapids. In the same debate he described both Israel and Iran as "dangerous" to the United States.
Debate night in Michigan
El-Sayed Rejects Defensive Weapons for Israel
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed answered 'That's a no' on defensive weapons for Israel • He called both Israel and Iran 'dangerous' | Republican Mike Rogers said he would 'absolutely' arm Israel
VINnews reported that El-Sayed's opposition to military aid for Israel has worried some Jewish voters and community leaders in Michigan. He and Rogers are competing for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters, and Michigan votes on November 3.
Moderator Rick Albin put the defensive-weapons question to him directly. El-Sayed first answered on domestic spending. "I want our tax dollars spent here to provide schools here. And by here, I mean Michigan, not Florida," he said. He then accused Israel of pushing Washington into the war with Iran and asked whether its war aims were "the annexation of southern Lebanon."
When Albin repeated the question, El-Sayed gave a direct answer: "I don't want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries. I don't know what's so hard about that. That's a no." Rogers responded immediately: "I'll answer the question. Absolutely. He won't."
Albin later returned to a question El-Sayed had faced before: which country poses the greater threat to the United States, Israel or Iran. El-Sayed again declined to choose. Pressed a second time, he said: "I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One, at risk of attacking us. One, getting us into wars we have no business fighting."
"I don't consider an ally a country that takes us to wars we don't need to fight," he added, The Jerusalem Post reported.
On Iran, El-Sayed said the war could end even if the Strait of Hormuz were not fully open and Iran retained the ability to produce a nuclear weapon. He argued for diplomacy and called the war "completely unnecessary." Rogers took the opposite view, saying the war could not end while Iran kept a nuclear weapons capability. He added that available information showed Iran's nuclear program had been set back by about 20 years.
Throughout the evening, Rogers charged that El-Sayed had never clearly condemned Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed rejected the charge more than once and told his opponent not to "make stuff up." When Rogers invoked the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre and El-Sayed's failure to issue a statement marking it, El-Sayed replied, "I've condemned that," and accused Rogers of making "political theater out of other people's pain."
Rogers said he "staunchly" supports the Jewish state's right to exist and to defend itself. Asked what could cost Israel his backing for military assistance, he named only talk of using nuclear weapons.
The hourlong debate took place at the WOOD-TV studios and aired nationally on NewsNation. The candidates kept arguing through a commercial break, something Albin said he had never seen in 30 years of moderating debates.
The clash came a day after NewsNation released portions of an interview in which El-Sayed dismissed the same Israel-or-Iran question as "a dumb question." Speaking to host Leland Vittert, he said the United States was at war with Iran "in part, because of the advocacy of the Israeli prime minister," and that Benjamin Netanyahu "came to the Situation Room and advocated for the war," Matzav reported.
After the debate, El-Sayed was also asked about his association with online commentator Hasan Piker. He said comparing Trump to "a streamer in California" was "silly."
El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination by defeating Representative Haley Stevens in the primary. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who endorsed Stevens in that race, has now appeared alongside El-Sayed for the first time.
