During a Thursday debate, Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly declined to state whether he views Iran or Israel as the greater threat to the United States. When pressed by Republican rival Mike Rogers, El-Sayed characterized the question as a "ridiculous hypothetical."
"Here’s what’s happening right now: our ostensible ally in Israel has lobbied us to go to war with Iran," El-Sayed, a Democrat, stated during the exchange. "We have watched as Iran has responded by bombing all kinds of countries in the Middle East and then choking off the world’s energy supply."
El-Sayed further commented, "This is a situation in which I don’t think we should be a part [of]. I want our money spent here to buy schools and health care and child care here."
When the question regarding which country posed a greater threat was reiterated, El-Sayed described it as "ridiculous" and asserted that "both of them have proven dangerous in their own way."
Rogers criticized El-Sayed's stance on terrorism, including his perceived lack of a statement marking the three-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. "This is why you should get absolutely angry," Rogers said. "He could not bring himself to even acknowledge the pain, the terrorism, the rape, the murders, cutting off of women’s breasts, putting children in ovens and killing them in front of their families."
