Democratic candidate for US Senate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a unity rally in Detroit, Michigan, US, Aug. 7, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed drew criticism this week after refusing to affirm that the Iranian regime poses a bigger threat to American security than Israel, the closest US ally in the Middle East.

When asked by NewsNation host Leland Vittert whether he considers Iran to be a bigger threat to the US than Israel, El-Sayed refused to draw a distinction between the Jewish state and the Iranian regime. Instead, the candidate asserted that Israel encouraged the US to pursue a war with Iran on its behalf. 

“We are in the war with Iran, in part because of the advocacy of the Israeli prime minister. There’s no disagreement on that. He came to the situation room and advocated for the war,” El-Sayed said.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly advocated military action to thwart Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, US President Donald Trump has publicly said several times that Israel did not push him into the current conflict with Iran, arguing that he believes the regime poses a significant threat to American security.

El-Sayed also suggested in his response that US funds “subsidize” wars involving Israel and that the country should redirect its own resources toward domestic issues. He claimed that the funding for the ongoing war in Iran has increased living expenses for ordinary Americans. 

“I have been more than extremely clear about this: I don’t want our tax dollars being used to subsidize war abroad,” El-Sayed said. “I don’t want our tax dollars being used to fund, unconditionally, foreign militaries.”

He stressed the importance of the US being the “first of all equals” concerning upholding international law “against any and every country who breaks it.” 

“So, this sort of hypothetical of ‘who’s a bigger threat?’ is a dumb question, sorry,” the Democratic nominee for US Senate concluded.

Former US Rep. Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican nominee running against El-Sayed, argued that such a response was concerning.

“Radio silence from Abdul El-Sayed about the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks — yet this surfaces today. I wish I could say this is shocking. When people tell you who they are, believe them,” he posted on social media, referencing the third anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

 El-Sayed has come under scrutiny for previous refusals to condemn the Iranian government. 

Last month, when confronted by a member of the Iranian diaspora during a town hall event,  El-Sayed sidestepped an opportunity to express solidarity with protesters against the regime in Tehran, saying that he does not “believe that we were in the right to go to war to topple the government of Iran. It was not our responsibility to do.” Though he expressed generalized support of “movements for freedom and democracy,” the candidate refused to explicitly align himself with anti-regime activists. 

In March, El-Sayed told his staff that he did not want to comment on the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying there were people in the city of Dearborn who were mourning him, according to a recording acquired by the Washington Free Beacon. 

The remarks were made on a private campaign call held one day after Khamenei’s death. According to the recording, El-Sayed warned his staff that reporters might ask whether the US-Israeli strike on Feb. 28 was justified and advised against engaging with the question.

“There are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today, so, like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all,” El-Sayed said in the leaked audio.

El-Sayed, a physician and former Wayne County health official, has accused Israel of genocide and apartheid, called it a “rogue state,” and argued that its government and the Hamas terrorist organization are both “evil.” He has also questioned US support for maintaining Israel as a specifically Jewish state.

El-Sayed has campaigned alongside left-wing political streamer Hasan Piker, who endorsed his candidacy and appeared with him at events in Michigan. During one such appearance, El-Sayed denounced the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and accused it of influencing lawmakers to support the war against Iran.

El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August and is now running against Rogers for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The contest has attracted national attention as Democrats seek to defend the seat.