“We want an America where we stand with democracy against genocide,” El-Sayed said.
By United with Israel Staff
Newly elected Michigan Senator Abdul El-Sayed declared his state the “capital of Arab America” during a speech at an Arab American summit in Virginia, where he accused Israel of genocide, condemned American military assistance to the Jewish state and portrayed criticism of his election campaign as racist and Islamophobic.
Speaking Friday at the CONNECT Arab America: Empowerment Summit in Chantilly, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., El-Sayed received an enthusiastic welcome from supporters celebrating his historic election as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
“I’m honored to be the next United States Senator from the great state of Michigan,” he told the cheering audience.
“I know we’re here in DC, which of course is the capital of the United States of America, but Michigan is the capital of Arab America,” he declared, drawing applause.
Much of El-Sayed’s roughly 20-minute address focused on his Egyptian American background, his political journey and his belief that Arab Americans had demonstrated their growing influence in American politics.
However, the senator-elect also returned to one of the central controversies of his campaign: his fierce opposition to Israel and American military assistance to the Jewish state.
“I don’t know why we can’t call for the idea that a Palestinian child should be able to grow up in the land of their forefathers without having to worry about a bomb paid for by our tax dollars dropping on them,” he said.
El-Sayed then contrasted funding shortages in Detroit’s public schools with American military spending.
“And to see that in an era where we just bought 2.8 billion worth of 2,000 pound bombs for a foreign government, that should call us all into question,” he declared.
He did not provide evidence for the specific figure during his remarks.
“We want our tax dollars spent here to build schools here, to provide healthcare here, to build infrastructure here,” El-Sayed continued. “We don’t want our tax dollars spent abroad to do genocide, apartheid, and war.”
The accusations, which echoed rhetoric frequently used by anti-Israel activists, were met with cheers and applause.
Toward the conclusion of his speech, El-Sayed again invoked genocide allegations while calling for changes in American foreign policy.
“We want an America where we stand with democracy against genocide,” he said.
“We want an America where our tax dollars are spent to invest in our fellow Americans rather than to buy bombs and tanks for other people’s countries.”
El-Sayed also accused his political opponents of targeting his ethnicity and Muslim identity rather than debating his domestic policy proposals.
“The thing that all of my detractors wanted to fixate on was something about the color of my skin, about the way I pray, and about my name,” he claimed.
“The campaign against us was one of the most hideous, most racist campaigns I think we’ve seen since 2008,” he later declared.
“They wanted to make this a referendum on me and my name and my faith.”
The atmosphere at Friday’s summit reflected the broader anti-Israel activism surrounding El-Sayed’s political rise.
Among those attending was Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the far-left antiwar organization CodePink, which has drawn scrutiny over connections to pro-China funding networks.
Benjamin was accompanied by fellow CodePink activist Tighe Barry, who wore a Mao-style cap featuring a red star and carried a backpack decorated with Palestinian protest symbols.
Their presence highlighted an overlap between socialist and communist-aligned activists and Arab American and pro-Palestinian political movements, sometimes described by critics as a “red-green alliance.”
The summit’s host, Arab America Foundation Chairman Issam Andoni, went considerably further than El-Sayed in his own remarks.
Addressing the senator-elect, Andoni celebrated his electoral victories over opponents backed by the pro-Israel lobby.
“You destroyed AIPAC twice,” he declared, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Andoni also expressed hope for a Palestinian state extending across the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
He called for a Palestine “from the river to the sea,” which he described as “Free from occupation. Free from Zionists. And free from corruption. And free from apartheid.”
El-Sayed stood quietly as the audience applauded.
In an interview with Fox News Digital following the event, Andoni made clear what he hoped the incoming senator would prioritize in Washington.
“Cutting aid to Israel,” he said. “Military aid especially.”
“That is from our perspective as a community probably number one,” Andoni added.
Although he acknowledged El-Sayed’s emphasis on domestic issues such as healthcare, Andoni said ending American military assistance to Israel was the recommendation he would personally make to the senator-elect.
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