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Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was confronted repeatedly over whether Israel has a right to exist during a tense CNN interview on Thursday, in addition to several social media posts he’s deleted about defunding the police.
“AIPAC is a big part of this conversation because Israel has become a very central topic, especially inside the Democratic Party, but nationally as well. Do you believe Israel has a right to exist?” CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked.
El-Sayed responded, “So, Kasie, AIPAC has become a big issue in this election because AIPAC has already spent $30 million in this election — they’re by far the biggest spender in the race. Now, the question about a right to exist is interesting, because nobody’s ever asked me whether I believe Palestine has a right to exist. Every single president who’s served has said they believe in a two-state solution. Israel exists. The question is whether we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to fund genocide and apartheid instead of investing in our own kids.”
Abdul El-Sayed, candidate for US Senate in Michigan, speaks before U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
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Hunt noted that he said Israel exists, but asked him again if the country had a right to exist.
“I didn’t say that. I just said the question of Israel‘s existence is not a question. I‘m not going to play this gotcha game about whether or not it has a right to exist. The question, ultimately, is about whether or not we want a politics that dignifies equal rights,” he responded.
The CNN host asked a third time, “You’re not going to play the gotcha, but you’re not going to say you think Israel has a right to exist?”
U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and embraced comparisons between he and Zohran Mamdani. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
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El-Sayed dodged again and responded with a question he believed they should be asking instead, “Does everybody have equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination? That includes Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians?”
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“And to me, the people who should answer what ultimate peace looks like there should be Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians. I want my tax dollars spent here in Michigan — to provide schools in Michigan, to build health care in Michigan, to invest in Michigan — rather than sent abroad to kill Palestinian people through genocide and apartheid. The question of whether Israel has a right to exist is actually quite secondary to whether it has a right to our tax dollars,” he continued.
He added, “So if you want to ask me about the Palestinian right to exist, if you want to ask me what I want to do for kids in Michigan, I’m happy to answer those questions. But AIPAC and Israel have become questions that too many people have to answer, because our tax dollars keep getting spent over there rather than being spent here.”
Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for additional comment.
Abdul El-Sayed, speaks before Sen. Bernie Sanders and takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
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Hunt then brought up the since-deleted social media posts, which expressed support for the defund the police movement, among other thing.
“Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about,” El-Sayed wrote in one June 2020 post on X, just several weeks after the death of George Floyd.
Hunt asked if he stood by what he previously said or if he thought the police departments should be funded.
El-Sayed cited his work as a director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services in Wayne County, Michigan.
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She pressed and asked again.
“Judge me by my work, I funded the system because it needed to be funded. Too often the conversation we have is fund or defund. The question that we don‘t ask is, what kind of system do we really want? I want us to be investing in the kinds of interventions that actually protect people,” he said, citing recruitment and retirement for law enforcement, community violence intervention, behavioral health response, and more.
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El-Sayed then took a shot at CNN and added, “And I think this debate about 2020 and the ways that tweets are going to play are really nice on CNN. If you want to get clicks, they‘re not that effective, and nobody really asks me about them on the streets or in communities in Michigan. So if you want to talk about housing or healthcare or corporate dominance in our politics, I think those are a lot more legitimate questions that people are actually asking me about what they want their next senator to do in the state of Michigan, rather than for clickbait in D.C.”
