Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed says Israel committed genocide in Gaza, calls for end to unconditional U.S. military aid
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said Israel committed genocide in Gaza and argued that U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to provide unconditional military aid to foreign governments.
“The state of Israel did a genocide,” El-Sayed said in a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday. He said Washington had backed a two-state solution while simultaneously supporting an Israeli government that, in his view, was making a Palestinian state less attainable.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t pay my taxes to buy another country a bomb or a tank,” he said, naming Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. El-Sayed said he would rather direct U.S. resources toward schools, infrastructure, healthcare and childcare.
Israel rejects accusations that its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, however, concluded in separate reports in 2025 that Israel’s actions met the definition of genocide.
El-Sayed also said Palestinians and Jewish Israelis should have equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination. Asked on 60 Minutes whether Israel had a right to exist, he answered yes before arguing that any political settlement should be determined on equal terms by Israelis and Palestinians.
“If the Palestinian people decide and the Israeli people decide that they want two states for two people, and they decide that on equal terms, I’m for it,” he said. “If they decide that they want one state shared in a different way, I’m for that.”
On domestic policy, El-Sayed rejected the socialist label and described himself as a capitalist, arguing that monopoly and oligopoly pose greater threats to functioning markets than government regulation. He also defended guaranteed healthcare as compatible with capitalism.
El-Sayed is facing Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s closely watched Senate election on Tuesday.