{"id":8231,"date":"2026-08-02T00:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/02\/us-arabs-eye-historic-senate-win-for-abdul-el-sayed-despite-aipac-attacks\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T00:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:35:22","slug":"us-arabs-eye-historic-senate-win-for-abdul-el-sayed-despite-aipac-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/02\/us-arabs-eye-historic-senate-win-for-abdul-el-sayed-despite-aipac-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"US Arabs eye \u2018historic\u2019 Senate win for Abdul El-Sayed despite AIPAC attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p><strong>Dearborn, Michigan \u2013<\/strong> Suehaila Amen\u2019s voice trembles when she speaks about the plight of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/6\/24\/aje-onl-nf_israel-will-not-withdraw-from-lebanon-us-demands-240626\">south Lebanon<\/a>, where Israel is systematically wiping out entire villages. She struggles to hold back tears.<\/p>\n<p>Amen, a prominent local activist, says the large <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/17\/yemeni-americans-feel-betrayed-as-trump-revokes-immigration-protections\">Arab American<\/a> community in Michigan is suffering from shock, pain and exhaustion after nearly three years of war, mass killings and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/31\/israeli-forces-blow-up-structures-near-lebanons-beaufort-castle\">Israeli forces blow up structures near Lebanon\u2019s Beaufort Castle<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/8\/1\/iran-warns-against-fire-of-war-amid-us-strike-threats-on-energy-sites\">Iran warns against \u2018flames of war\u2019 amid US strike threats on energy sites<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/8\/1\/trump-pledges-to-pursue-anti-weaponisation-fund-amid-blanche-standoff\">Trump pledges to pursue \u2018anti-weaponisation\u2019 fund amid Blanche standoff<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cTo say the community is hurting is really an understatement. Even in answering this question, I\u2019m brought to tears because I lived there,\u201d she said of Bint Jbail, one of the border towns in Lebanon that has been levelled by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my land too \u2014 my ancestral homeland. People are feeling like they are disregarded, that their lives don\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the middle of this despair, Amen said she has found a beacon of hope in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/24\/wins-by-mamdani-backed-candidates-deal-blow-to-pro-israel-camp-in-us\">rise of politicians<\/a> across the United States who are calling for an end to government support for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>In Michigan, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2017\/3\/27\/qa-the-man-running-to-be-us-first-muslim-governor\">Abdul El-Sayed<\/a>, a doctor and public health advocate, is running for the Senate on a pledge that he would seek to invest in local communities instead of foreign wars.<\/p>\n<p>He has also been vocal in denouncing Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, which he recognises as a genocide.<\/p>\n<p>But El-Sayed, who is of Egyptian descent, has faced an avalanche of spending from pro-Israel groups \u2014 including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) \u2014 that have backed his Democratic primary opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, with more than $50m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be absolutely spectacular to watch the fall of that so-called empire that AIPAC thinks that they hold,\u201d Amen said.<\/p>\n<p>If El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, she believes his victory would be \u201chistoric\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbdul is the candidate that\u2019s right for the state of Michigan and for this country,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe want to show the world that not everybody is going to align with Israel\u2019s interests, and that this is a country where candidates should be putting America first and should be putting their constituents first.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"bint-jbail-is-not-far-away\">\u2018Bint Jbail is not far away\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>At a Friday night campaign rally for El-Sayed in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb known as the \u201ccapital of Arab America\u201d, boos rang out each time AIPAC was mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>During a speech, Abbas Alawieh, a candidate for Michigan\u2019s state Senate, noted the significance of the venue hosting the event: the Bint Jebail Cultural Center.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI grew up three minutes from here. Bint Jbail is the village that I\u2019m from on my mom\u2019s side. Bint Jbail is actively experiencing an ethnic cleansing by the Israeli military. They are going house by house and demolishing,\u201d Alawieh said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey just demolished the school that my grandfather was a principal at for years and years, that my mom and my uncles went to. That is Bint Jbail. Bint Jbail is not far away. Bint Jbail is right here where you are sitting. The houses that are outside are of community members who have family on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alawieh, a former congressional staffer, stressed to the crowd that El-Sayed would answer to the people, not to lobbyist groups like AIPAC in the US Senate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the power to deliver our Medicare for All,\u201d Alawieh said, referencing the plan for universal healthcare in the US.<\/p>\n<p>Campaign volunteers stood up and clapped as his voice rose with emotion. \u201cWe have the power to deliver a future free of endless wars,\u201d Alawieh continued. \u201cIt\u2019s within our grasp. It starts right here in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Dearborn, community leaders have been pushing people to tap into their political power in the face of perceived indifference from both major parties. Many are rallying around El-Sayed\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Signs that read \u201cSmall business for Abdul\u201d are a common sight in the storefronts that dot Dearborn\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n<p>While Congresswoman Stevens has accused El-Sayed of disproportionately focusing on foreign policy, he has framed his opposition to Israel\u2019s wars as a domestic issue.<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed argues that the US has spent too much on conflicts that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/1\/netanyahus-war-analysts-say-trumps-iran-strikes-benefit-israel-not-us\">benefit Israel<\/a>, including the war on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>He believes those funds should instead be spent to address pressing issues at home in the US, including healthcare and affordable housing.<\/p>\n<p>But for many Arab Americans in Michigan, foreign policy is as local and personal as it gets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand why people might be apathetic to the political system and how it\u2019s unfolded, but I still think it is incumbent upon us to participate in the democratic process,\u201d Dearborn Mayor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/1\/as-trump-harris-woo-arab-americans-michigan-mayor-readies-to-up-pressure\">Abdullah Hammoud<\/a> told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to take it into our hands. Drive out the vote, making sure that we\u2019re electing candidates up and down the ticket who are there to fight for working families and who share a set of values that can be applied globally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dearborn City Council Member Kamal Alsawafy echoed that assessment, saying that the US Senate race is significant because supporting El-Sayed means \u201cprotecting working families\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means using our tax dollars where they should be used to fund and fix our crumbling roads, not sending our tax dollars to crumble somebody else\u2019s home overseas,\u201d Alsawafy told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s about priorities, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re trying to make the right decision and vote for Abdul El-Sayed.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-candidates\">The candidates<\/h2>\n<p>El-Sayed served as the health director of Detroit before running unsuccessfully for governor in 2018. He later became a political pundit and vocal advocate for the \u201cMedicare for All\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, he became the head of the Wayne County Department of Health. He left the post last year to launch his Senate bid.<\/p>\n<p>Backed by Senator <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/17\/israel-is-committing-genocide-in-gaza-bernie-sanders\">Bernie Sanders<\/a>, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other key progressives, he quickly occupied the leftward lane in the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n<p>With US public opinion turning <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/2\/27\/us-citizens-support-for-israel-at-historic-low-over-gaza-genocide-poll\">against Israel<\/a>, the Michigan race has become a microcosm for the rift within the Democratic Party over the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens is staunchly pro-Israel. In 2024, she joined House Republicans in voting to ban the Department of State from citing the Palestinian death toll provided by health officials in Gaza. Earlier this month, she also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2026\/7\/28\/how-us-defence-aid-shaped-israels-military-developments-since-oct-7-2023\">voted against<\/a> an effort to cut off funding for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael comes to me in my dreams. I see Israel\u2019s future. And I know that Israel will continue to exist for the Jewish people,\u201d she said during a 2023 Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony, a soundbite that has come to symbolise her devotion to the US ally.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens has been endorsed by some of the top Democrats in Michigan and nationally, including Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.<\/p>\n<p>The election is one of the most publicised races this election cycle, pitting the pro-Israel Democratic establishment against rising progressives seeking a change in US policy.<\/p>\n<p>AIPAC has broken primary records with its pro-Stevens spending, but Tuesday\u2019s race is not the first time the group has backed the congresswoman.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, AIPAC spent millions to help Stevens defeat fellow Democrat <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/7\/28\/levin-v-stevens-aipac-targets-prominent-jewish-american-lawmaker\">Andy Levin<\/a>, a progressive Jewish labour organiser, after redistricting resulted in the two Congress members competing for the same seat.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, beating a Republican incumbent. She has presented herself as a pragmatic legislator who gets things done, and in this year\u2019s race, she has accused El-Sayed of being an online celebrity who pursues slogans, not results.<\/p>\n<p>For his part, El-Sayed has questioned Stevens\u2019s effectiveness, painting her as beholden to her donors, in contrast with his campaign that he says is driven by volunteers and people who want to make Michigan a better place.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of the Democratic nomination on Tuesday will face former Congressman Mike Rogers, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan race is essential for Democrats to regain control of the Senate in November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"accusations-of-bigotry\">Accusations of bigotry<\/h2>\n<p>The contentious Senate primary is taking place amid a rise in anti-Arab racism and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/24\/after-san-diego-shooting-muslim-americans-want-to-turn-grief-into-action\">Islamophobia<\/a> during the second term of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>While such bigotry has mostly come from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/10\/us-congressman-randy-fine-suggests-palestinians-should-be-destroyed-first\">right-wing politicians<\/a>, El-Sayed\u2019s supporters have said that some Democrats are flirting with bigotry as they push back against the progressive candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Angie Smith, a local official in the Detroit suburb of Farmington, apologised after facing accusations of racism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t come out speaking only Arabic. Don\u2019t come out with your Arabic music on. Represent everyone,\u201d Smith told the Michigan Chronicle.<\/p>\n<p>AIPAC and some Stevens surrogates also pushed to portray El-Sayed as sexist for his criticism of the congresswoman, a campaign that his supporters say aims to play on stereotypes about Arab men.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens has faced outrage for suggesting that El-Sayed is anti-Semitic. \u201cEveryone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans,\u201d she wrote in a social media post late on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Congresswoman Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from western Michigan, hinted earlier this week that she would not back El-Sayed against Rogers, the Republican, if the progressive doctor proceeds to the general election. She said El-Sayed is enabling \u201canti-American sentiment\u201d by campaigning with left-wing streamer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/podcasts\/2025\/8\/19\/the-take-twitch-to-politics-hasan-piker-on-gaza-and-the-us-right\">Hasan Piker<\/a>, an outspoken critic of US foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar criticised Scholten\u2019s remarks during the rally in Dearborn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is nothing anti-American about believing healthcare is a human right. There\u2019s nothing anti-American about believing housing should be affordable,\u201d Omar said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s nothing anti-American about believing that government should work for working people instead of billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With public opinion polls favouring El-Sayed to win against Stevens, the Republican Party is already pouncing on the race.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) shared a video of El-Sayed simply stating his name in an apparent attempt to paint him as foreign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichigan socialist finally introduces himself with his full name: Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed,\u201d the NRSC said in a social media post.<\/p>\n<p>El-Sayed was born and raised in Michigan, and his name, Abdul, is a shortened version of Abdulrahman.<\/p>\n<p>The candidate has dismissed bigotry-laced attacks, stressing that they will not affect his electability. As he campaigned throughout Michigan over the past months, he observed that voters were focused on his policies, not his religion and ethnicity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople don\u2019t ask, \u2018How do you pray?\u2019 But I have been asked, \u2018What do you pray for?\u2019 People don\u2019t care as much about my name; they care if I care to remember their name,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Hammoud, the Dearborn mayor, backed El-Sayed\u2019s message, saying that the candidate has become accustomed to such attacks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is important for us to do is to demonstrate that we have the ability to participate in all of the fabric that is the beauty of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so, we have to participate in public office, to run for campaigns to help support other candidates. That is the only way that you demonstrate that we are here and we\u2019re a part of America, and it\u2019s the most beautiful part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dearborn, Michigan \u2013 Suehaila Amen\u2019s voice trembles when she speaks about the plight of south Lebanon, where Israel is systematically wiping out entire villages. She struggles to hold back tears. Amen, a prominent local activist, says the large Arab American community in Michigan is suffering from shock, pain and exhaustion after nearly three years of &#8230; <a title=\"US Arabs eye \u2018historic\u2019 Senate win for Abdul El-Sayed despite AIPAC attacks\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/02\/us-arabs-eye-historic-senate-win-for-abdul-el-sayed-despite-aipac-attacks\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about US Arabs eye \u2018historic\u2019 Senate win for Abdul El-Sayed despite AIPAC attacks\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}