Newly elected Michigan Senator Abdul El-Sayed sparked controversy in a recent ABC News interview by arguing that maintaining Israel’s current borders while attempting to establish a Palestinian state would inherently deny equal rights to Palestinians. The progressive Democrat likened the existing diplomatic approach to “splitting a meal” unequally, with one party consuming most of the resources before dividing the remainder.
When pressed on whether he believes Israel has a right to exist, El-Sayed framed his response around equal rights for both populations rather than explicitly affirming Israel’s statehood. “I believe in peace, dignity, and self-determination for the Jewish Israeli people, equal to peace, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian people,” he told ABC’s Linsey Davis.
‘Our Tax Dollars Funding Apartheid’
The incoming senator pulled no punches in his critique of American policy, accusing the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC of distorting U.S. foreign policy through massive campaign spending. He claimed current U.S. support enables Israel to commit what he called “terrible things” with American tax dollars, including actions he labeled as “genocide and apartheid.”
El-Sayed’s comments represent some of the most sharply critical remarks about Israel from a recently elected national Democrat. He explicitly tied U.S. military aid to violations of international law, vowing to apply the same scrutiny to other Middle Eastern allies including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.
The Two-State Solution Under Fire
Progressives have increasingly challenged the traditional two-state solution framework, which El-Sayed dismissed as fundamentally unequal unless both parties negotiate from equal footing. His remarks signal growing frustration among the Democratic Party’s left flank with what they view as unconditional U.S. support for Israel amid ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Political observers note El-Sayed’s election marks another shift toward more openly critical voices on Israel within Democratic ranks, though his specific language about “apartheid” and allegations of genocide remains controversial even among progressive circles.
Source: www.breitbart.com โ https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/11/06/el-sayed-cant-leave-state-of-israel-as-is-and-have-equal-rights/