El-Sayed Calls Israel and Iran ‘Both Dangerous’ in Michigan Senate Debate, Won’t Commit to Arming Israel

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed declined to say whether he would support sending defensive weapons to Israel if it were attacked by Iran, telling debate moderators repeatedly that he does not want American tax dollars “buying weapons for other countries.”

The exchange came during a Thursday debate in Grand Rapids between El-Sayed and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, both vying for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. WOOD TV8 reporter Rick Albin, who moderated the debate, asked El-Sayed point-blank which country poses a bigger threat to the United States: Israel or Iran.

El-Sayed called it a “ridiculous hypothetical” before answering anyway.

“Our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran. We have watched as Iran has responded by bombing all kinds of countries in the Middle East and then choking off the world’s energy supply. So, this is a situation in which I don’t think we should be a part. I don’t want to be pushed into war by Israel, and I don’t want to be in a war with Iran. I want our money spent here to buy schools and health care and child care here. I don’t understand why that is so inconceivable.”

He added that he does not “consider an ally a country that takes us to wars we don’t need to fight,” concluding that both nations have “proven dangerous in their own way.”

When Albin pressed a second time for a direct answer, El-Sayed held his ground: “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.”

Defensive Weapons Question

Albin then asked whether El-Sayed would vote to supply Israel with defensive weaponry if it were attacked tomorrow by Iran or another hostile state. El-Sayed did not give a yes-or-no answer.

“I’ve been absolutely clear. I want our tax dollars spent here to provide schools here … I want to make sure we’ve got good schools here and health care here. I want to make sure that we are taking care of people here. That is my priority.”

He also turned the question back on the war in question, criticizing Israel for what he described as pushing the United States toward conflict with Iran, and criticized Rogers by name for supporting that path.

“Israel has pushed us to go to war in Iran. And of course, my colleague who thinks there’s a war for everything went right along with it. And here we are. Israel had clear war aims. They wanted us to go to war with them, and their war aims were what? The annexation of southern Lebanon? Ask yourself, are we safer because of that war? He wants unconditional support for a foreign government. I want unconditional support for kids in our schools, unconditional support for our health care, child care, things that he would vote to defund.”

Albin asked a third time whether El-Sayed would provide defensive weapons for Israel. El-Sayed replied: “I don’t want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries. I don’t know what’s so hard about that.”

El-Sayed is running against Rogers, a former Republican congressman, for the Michigan Senate seat.