El-Sayed under fire for tepid response to antisemitic campaign ad

Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign faces criticism over its refusal to condemn an antisemitic advertisement blaming Israel for high grocery prices.

By World Israel News Staff

The campaign of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing criticism from Jewish organizations and political figures after distancing itself from an advertisement blaming Israel for rising grocery prices in the US without explicitly condemning its content.

The advertisement, released by Rebellion PAC, a progressive political group founded by left-wing commentator Cenk Uygur, portrays American families struggling to afford groceries because their tax dollars are being used to finance Israeli military operations and other government expenditures.

The video features a couple shopping at a supermarket, where a woman tells her partner that they must return a carton of eggs because “we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians.”

The couple then discusses billions of dollars in American assistance to Israel, with the woman suggesting that US taxpayers are also helping finance Israel’s universal healthcare system.

The advertisement concludes by attacking El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, accusing him of prioritizing Israeli interests over those of American voters.

“Mike Rogers is for they/them,” the narrator declares over images of Israeli political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before adding, “Abdul El-Sayed is for you.”

The advertisement was produced independently of El-Sayed’s campaign and was not authorized by the candidate.

Responding to the controversy on Monday, campaign spokeswoman Roxie Richner said, “This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign.”

Richner said El-Sayed was concentrating on opposing President Donald Trump’s economic policies, which she blamed for increasing costs for Michigan residents.

“No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign,” she added.

However, the campaign did not directly address accusations that the advertisement promoted antisemitic stereotypes or call for its withdrawal.

The response drew criticism from Democrats for Mike Rogers, a political group supporting El-Sayed’s Republican opponent.

“Absolutely pathetic that Abdul can’t condemn this disgusting antisemitic ad. It’s disqualifying,” the group wrote on X.

The Republican Jewish Coalition similarly criticized the response, accusing El-Sayed of avoiding the substance of the controversy.

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, co-chairman of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, also demanded that El-Sayed condemn the advertisement and call for its removal.

Goldman said that if El-Sayed was sincere about his commitment to protecting Jewish Americans, he should denounce the advertisement as antisemitic.

“If not, then he’s full of s***,” Goldman wrote on X.

Asked about the campaign’s statement, Goldman said he was aware of it and found it “wholly lacking.”

The advertisement also drew criticism from Rep. Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed defeated in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

“This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong,” Stevens wrote, warning that the controversy would damage Democratic candidates ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

Stevens said Democrats should focus on reducing housing, healthcare and other living costs rather than attributing Americans’ economic difficulties to Israel.

“How we do so is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world,” she said.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt condemned the advertisement as an example of scapegoating Israel for domestic economic problems.

He described the video as “a case study in antisemitism.”

The American Jewish Committee also rejected the advertisement’s message, saying Americans struggling financially deserved practical solutions rather than misleading claims about Israel’s responsibility for their economic problems.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said opposition to American aid to Israel was a legitimate political position, but argued that the advertisement falsely portrayed Israeli assistance as responsible for US grocery prices.

Uygur, meanwhile, rejected allegations that the advertisement was antisemitic.

“If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’re in a cult and don’t know it,” he wrote on X.

Rebellion PAC spokeswoman Kara Eastman also defended the advertisement, arguing that criticism of American financial assistance to a foreign government should not automatically be characterized as antisemitism.

The group said it was spending approximately $1,000 to distribute the advertisement online. Much of the video had originally been produced for Uygur’s unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign, with a new ending added to support El-Sayed.