On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed responded to a question on funding for Israel by saying that tax money should be spent in Michigan “rather than to send it to a foreign government that might use it in the form of bombs and tanks to destroy infrastructure and schools and hospitals there.” But also said that “I don’t believe that there’s really a difference between offensive or defensive weapons” and he opposes the Iron Dome.
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “Can you clarify for us what your position is on funding for Israel, if you do become a U.S. senator, are you opposed to all funding for Israel, period, military funding?”
El-Sayed answered, “I’m opposed to unconditional military aid for any country. That is Israel, yes, but that’s also Egypt — where my family immigrated from — that’s Pakistan, that’s Saudi Arabia, that’s UAE. And that’s not because of a focus on what’s happening anywhere, except for a focus on what’s happening here. We’ve got communities in my state where the median income is $14,000, and I believe they have a right to their tax dollars. I also believe in international law and upholding international law. And there are Leahy laws against dealing arms to countries who are engaged in human rights abuses. And I don’t want to fund a foreign military that does genocide, apartheid, or has taken us to a war we don’t need to fight. I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians alike. I believe our responsibility, though, more than anything else, is to use our tax money here in Michigan to provide healthcare in Michigan and schools in Michigan and roads in Michigan, rather than to send it to a foreign government that might use it in the form of bombs and tanks to destroy infrastructure and schools and hospitals there.”
Collins followed up, “Some people might hear that and say, well, does he support funding defensive systems like the Iron Dome in Israel? Do you?”
El-Sayed answered, “I don’t believe that there’s really a difference between offensive or defensive weapons. And I also don’t believe it’s my responsibility to buy defensive weapons for a foreign government when our kids are defenseless against schools that have been underfunded for a very, very long time. My responsibility, as the next senator from Michigan, is children in Michigan, rather than thinking about what’s in the interest of a foreign government.”
Collins clarified, “Okay, so that’s a yes that you are against funding to things like the Iron Dome?”
El-Sayed responded, “I am against it, in large part because I just don’t understand why anybody thinks it’s the right thing to do to send our tax dollars abroad, to fund foreign militaries, when our own kids barely get to go to schools that are functional.”
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