Love People Enough · Reference for the re-record

Abdul El-Sayed: The Real Story

Background first (A, B), then the questions, numbered. Under each question: the case against him, what his side says, the evidence, and the clips. You and Rob read it, play the clip, and say what you think. Updated Oct 26, 2026.

How to use this page
BackgroundThe questions
  1. Is he a real doctor?
  2. Does his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?
  3. What about his mother and the charity Treasury shut down?
  4. His in-laws: CAIR, the money, and the watch list
  5. Has he disavowed the Brotherhood?
  6. Did he back the Brotherhood when it ran Egypt?
  7. Did he speak to Brotherhood-linked groups?
  8. The 2011 research paper: what did it actually say?
  9. Who's paying for his race? The money tied to CAIR
  10. Temple Israel: did he excuse a terror attack?
  11. Hasan Piker: is he responsible for who he campaigns with?
  12. Israel, Iran and October 7th: where does he stand?
  13. The grocery-store ad: is Israel why your eggs cost so much?
  14. Same words as the far right?
  15. The whole case, back to back
  16. Does he love his fellow Muslims more than he hates Israel?
Documents
Background: set it up before the questions

AWho is Abdul El-Sayed, and why does this race matter?

Most listeners have never heard of him. Thirty seconds of who he is before anything else.

Clips (play in code order)
▶ 00AContext
Al Jazeera: El-Sayed wins the primary
Start 0:00, stop 1:18 (1:18). Ends on his promise that his commitment to Jewish safety is "the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters."
File: 00A-al-jazeera-primary-win-LONG.mp4

BWhat is the Muslim Brotherhood, and why does it matter?

Every question below turns on this group. Explain it plainly before you say a family member's name.

The case against him
  • It's the movement Hamas grew out of. Ties to it are a fair thing to ask a Senate candidate about.
  • Rogers: "This is about the way you think, not the way you pray."
What his side says
  • It's a foreign political movement, not a religion, and most Muslims have nothing to do with it.
  • A co-host on The View: the Brotherhood is "practically defunct in Egypt. That's like asking him to denounce bell bottoms."
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 00BContext
India Today: US designates Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon
Start 0:00, stop 0:20.
File: 00B-india-today-brotherhood-designation.mp4
The questions

1Is he a real doctor?New

Quick one. People hear "Dr. El-Sayed" and others say he isn't a real doctor. Both are partly right.

Fair way to say it: "He went to medical school and has the degree, but he has never been licensed or treated patients. He's a public health guy, not a practicing physician."

The case against him
  • He calls himself a physician on the trail: "I'm a physician. I trained to take care of people." He has never been licensed to treat a single patient.
  • In his own words he was "cosplaying a doctor" in med school, and he never did a residency.
  • Under Michigan and federal law, a physician is someone licensed to practice. He isn't one.
What his side says
  • He has an MD from Columbia and a doctorate from Oxford. His campaign: he "earned the right to be called 'doctor' twice over."
  • The American Medical Association counts anyone with an MD as a physician.
  • He's never claimed to see patients: "I don't practice medicine, as has been well documented." His career is public health, and he ran Detroit's health department.
The evidence, direct links
Talk about it
  • Is saying "I'm a physician" a fair shorthand for an MD, or is it misleading when you've never been licensed?
  • Does it matter for a Senate seat?

2Does his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?New

This is the question he answered "No" to on Meet the Press. His half-sister's posts are the main evidence against that answer.

The case against him
  • Meet the Press, Oct 11: asked if he or his family have any ties to the Brotherhood: "No." "And your family doesn't?" "No."
  • His maternal half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi (now a University of Chicago professor), posted on June 24, 2012: "My family has long been MB." MB means Muslim Brotherhood.
  • Same day: "Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect." Their mother is his mother.
  • Also that day: "conversations with my #MB family in Egypt." And July 3, 2013, the day the army removed Morsi: "Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe."
  • The Free Beacon also quotes her: "I have had family jailed for being a part of it." (I couldn't pull that post itself; the other five are below, live on X today.)
  • They're not estranged. April 2025 she posted about his Senate run: "I am a proud little sister." And in 2020 he Venmo'd her money for "Mama's bday gift" (Free Beacon).
  • Per the Free Beacon, his campaign called it "lies" and Islamophobic attacks, but did not deny she wrote the posts.
What his side says
  • "I have no ties. We have no ties." (NBC, Oct 14)
  • "I have never had these conversations with my mother. I wasn't raised by my mother." His parents split when he was a toddler; he grew up with his dad and stepmom.
  • "You're using hearsay evidence from a tweet. It's just not serious."
  • "You want to ask me about what's happening in Egypt in 1970. Are you serious?"
  • AOC: it falls into "racist very clearly," and it hits "a little boy in Detroit that grew up without his mom."
  • Fairness: the same posts are critical of the group ("navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively"), and two of them praise her MB relatives' "respect for civil liberties, women, religious minorities." They're about family politics in Egypt, not about him.
  • His summers in Egypt, which he talks about, were with his father's family "in the one-bedroom apartment where his father grew up" (Fox News, from an Oct 2025 podcast). The half-sister is on his mother's side, so the summers don't connect them.
The posts, as they look on X (click to open full size)
All five 2012-13 posts in one imageAll five 2012-13 posts in one image"My family has long been MB""my mom... her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood""all my family that supports the #MB" (2013)"my #MB family in Egypt""Asked my Aunt about the MB"2025: 2025: "I am a proud little sister"
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 02ABoth sides in one clip
NBC Nightly News, Oct 14: Tom Llamas reads the posts to him
Start 4:16, stop 5:33 (1:17). The posts on screen, then "Are you serious?", "hearsay evidence from a tweet," and "are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?"
File: 02A-nbc-llamas-sister-posts.mp4
▶ 02BSupports his side
TMZ: AOC on the Brotherhood claims
Start 0:43, stop 2:57 (2:14). Her full case: racist, he was raised without his mom, "none of this has to do with Abdul." The strongest version of his side.
File: 02B-aoc-defends-him.mp4
Talk about it
  • His sister says one thing, he says another. Who do you believe, and why?
  • "Proud little sister" and a birthday gift for Mom: does "I wasn't raised by her" still work as an answer?

3What about his mother and the charity Treasury shut down?New

A separate thing from the posts: where his birth mother, Fatten Elkomy, worked.

The case against him
  • From 1999 to 2004 she worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) in Columbia, Missouri.
  • In 2004 Treasury designated IARA's parent group a terror financier and shut it down.
  • Court papers show her name more than a dozen times on the charity's wire transfers to Iraq.
  • Rogers raised it in the Oct 8 debate. PolitiFact called his line "mostly accurate, with context."
  • "He didn't grow up with her" doesn't mean they're not close. On Mother's Day this May his campaign posted him calling her on camera: "Love you, Mama. Talk soon." The Free Beacon reports he "maintains a close relationship with his mother," and in his book he calls her "smart, warm, charismatic." Leaning on "I wasn't raised by her" makes it sound more distant than it is.
What his side says
  • She was never charged with anything. She's a nurse in Missouri.
  • The criminal case was about breaking US sanctions on Iraq, and the charity pleaded guilty to that, not to funding terror.
  • He didn't grow up with her. Loving your mom isn't the same as knowing her college politics from 50 years ago, and he says they never discussed it.
  • In the debate: "You're going after my mom?"
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 03ABoth sides in one clip
CNN This Morning: the Oct 8 debate exchange
Start 0:09, stop 0:56 (47 sec). Rogers: "bought off by Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda." El-Sayed: "You go after my mom?" Rogers: "I'm not going after your mom."
File: 03A-cnn-debate-going-after-my-mom-LONG.mp4
▶ 03BSupports the case against him
His own channel, May 10: the Mother's Day calls
All of it (1:48). He calls three women: his mom, his stepmom and his grandma. The call that ends "Love you, Mama. Talk soon" (about 1:21 to 1:29) is the one the Free Beacon identifies as his mother. Warm and normal, which is the point: they're in touch.
File: 03B-mothers-day-call.mp4
Talk about it
  • Is where his mother worked 20 years ago fair game?
  • If he's close to her, is "I never had these conversations with my mother" believable?

4His in-laws: CAIR, the money, and the watch listNew

The in-laws are his wife Sarah's family. One funds the super PAC backing him; another was on a terror watch list.

In one breath: CAIR is the biggest Muslim civil rights group in the US. ISNA is one of the biggest Muslim organizations. In the 2008 Holy Land Foundation case (leaders convicted of sending about $12 million to Hamas) prosecutors listed both as unindicted co-conspirators.

What "unindicted co-conspirator" meansProsecutors are saying: we believe this person or group was part of the conspiracy, but we are not charging them. It is an accusation, not a finding of guilt, and the person never gets a trial to answer it. Common reasons someone isn't charged:
  • Not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, even if prosecutors believe it.
  • They cooperated: a plea deal or immunity in exchange for testimony.
  • They're dead, or out of the country and can't be brought back.
  • Immunity from their position, like a diplomat, or a sitting president under Justice Department policy.
  • Time ran out under the statute of limitations.
  • Strategy: naming someone a co-conspirator lets prosecutors use that person's statements as evidence at the trial of the people who were charged.
  • Priorities: prosecutors chose to focus on the main defendants.
In Holy Land there were more than 200 names on the list. Justice Department policy is not to name unindicted co-conspirators in public, and the judge later ruled that publishing CAIR's and ISNA's names shouldn't have happened. He also said the evidence tying them to Hamas was "ample." Both are true.
The case against him
  • Father-in-law Tayeb Jukaku ran CAIR Michigan for five years and is still on its board. He sits on ISNA's Founders Committee.
  • He gave $300,000 to Fighting for Michigan, the super PAC backing El-Sayed, plus $100,000 to CAIR's own super PAC the day before it sent $175,000 to the same pro-El-Sayed PAC (FEC). Full money trail in question 9.
  • The judge in the Holy Land case said there was "ample evidence" tying CAIR and ISNA to Hamas.
  • Sister-in-law Mariam Jukaku (his wife's sister) was on the federal terror watch list. Her lawsuit says her boarding pass was stamped "SSSS," which it says meant she'd been designated a "known or suspected terrorist." CAIR were her lawyers. Rogers: "Where there's smoke there's fire."
  • His "she got off" isn't confirmed. The government never confirmed she was taken off the list. Her first lawsuit's win was reversed on appeal in 2021, and her damages suit was dismissed in 2017.
  • He says people land on the list "because they've got different kinds of names." That's not how it works (see the box below).
What his side says
  • CAIR and ISNA were never charged. The same judge said naming them in public shouldn't have happened.
  • A donation to a legal super PAC is legal.
  • Mariam Jukaku was one of about 20 Muslim Americans who sued over the watch list in 2016. In 2019 a federal judge ruled the watch list process unconstitutional for people like her: no notice, no real way to clear your name. (Reversed in 2021.)
  • El-Sayed: "She did nothing wrong and was captured on that and then sued and got off. You've got this system where folks are guilty until proven innocent."
Two different sistersIs she the sister who wrote the Brotherhood posts? No. Two different people, two different families. Eman Abdelhadi is his half-sister, from his mother's side, and wrote the posts. Mariam Jukaku is his wife's sister, and was on the watch list. Don't mix them up on air.
How someone gets on the terror watch listThe FBI or the National Counterterrorism Center nominates a person, and the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center decides. The standard is "reasonable suspicion": specific facts that, taken together, reasonably suggest the person is involved in terrorism or activity related to it. "Mere guesses or hunches" don't count, and a nomination can't be based only on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin or free speech.
  • A name alone doesn't put you on the list. People with a name like someone on the list do get stopped at airports, but they aren't on it, and they can fix it through DHS TRIP. The FBI has said no one has ever been found to be on the list because of mistaken identity.
  • Fair point for his side: "reasonable suspicion" is a low bar, below what police need for an arrest. The list has held over a million names, you're never told why you're on it, and innocent people have been listed. That is what the 2019 ruling was about.
So: being on it means the government had some specific reason, not proof, and not just a "funny name."
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 04AContext
Al Jazeera, Nov 2008: Holy Land Foundation guilty of supporting Hamas
Start 0:00, stop 1:00.
File: 04A-al-jazeera-holy-land-1min.mp4
▶ 04BBoth sides in one clip
Fox News: El-Sayed confirms his sister-in-law was on the watch list
Start 0:35, stop 1:40 (1:05). The lawsuit, his answer ("she did nothing wrong"), and Rogers' "where there's smoke there's fire."
File: 04B-fox-sister-in-law-watchlist.mp4
Talk about it
  • Where's the line between "his family" and "the people funding his campaign"?
  • He blamed her listing on her name. Knowing how the list actually works, what do you make of that?

5Has he disavowed the Brotherhood?New

For months Republicans said he wouldn't. On Oct 17 at a town hall in Caro, Michigan, he did, then turned it around on the man who asked.

The case against him
  • It took until mid-October, under pressure, after months of attacks.
  • He said "Sure, yeah, absolutely" and then spent two minutes on why the question was bigots asking, not on the Brotherhood.
  • Alyssa Farah Griffin on The View: the JFK comparison "isn't quite equitable," because questioning a Catholic's faith "is different than asking a question about reported ties to a terrorist organization."
  • The "no ties" answer is still the problem. Disavowing the group doesn't answer what his sister wrote.
What his side says
  • He disavowed it the moment he was asked: "Sure. Yeah, absolutely."
  • PolitiFact rated Rogers' claim that he "didn't disavow" the Brotherhood False.
  • "You assume, Tommy, that because I am Muslim that somehow I would have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution."
  • JFK was asked if he'd answer to the Pope. "I'm not running to be a Muslim senator. I'm running for US Senate and happen to be Muslim."
  • The turn: he asked Tommy, "Do you disavow any attempt to read any religious doctrine into the laws of our country?" Tommy said "I do not." (The View says Tommy was reportedly a Republican operative.)
What the "I do not" moment meansEl-Sayed flipped the test. Tommy wanted him to prove his religion wouldn't run his politics. So he asked Tommy the same thing: do you reject any religion being written into US law? Tommy said no, he doesn't reject that. El-Sayed's point: you want me to keep my faith out of government, but you won't say the same about yours. "So I think it's you who needs to understand the Constitution." Fair caveat: we only know Tommy said three words. He may have meant something narrower, like Christian values shaping laws, not a religious code replacing the Constitution. He didn't get to explain.
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 05ASupports his side
USA Today: the Caro town hall, "Tommy"
Start 0:00, stop 2:30 (2:30). The question, "Sure, yeah, absolutely," "dual loyalties," the JFK answer, and the crowd. Play the whole thing.
File: 05A-caro-town-hall-disavow.mp4
▶ 05BSupports his side
Same town hall, the turn
Start 3:37, stop 4:33 (56 sec). "Do you disavow any attempt to read any religious doctrine into the laws of our country?" Tommy's "I do not" is quiet under the crowd; El-Sayed repeats it back: "You don't disavow that."
File: 05B-caro-town-hall-religious-law.mp4
▶ 05CBoth sides in one clip
The View: the hosts argue it out
Start 2:06, stop 4:12 (2:06). Alyssa Farah Griffin takes both sides: the Brotherhood question was answered, "close that chapter," but Temple Israel and Piker are fair game, and the JFK line doesn't fit.
File: 05C-the-view-both-sides.mp4
Talk about it
  • He disavowed it right away. Does that settle it for you, or does the "no ties" answer still bother you?
  • Was flipping the question on Tommy fair, or a dodge?

6Did he back the Brotherhood when it ran Egypt?New

Two things with his own name on them, from before he was in politics: a 2011 op-ed and a 2012 newspaper statement.

↓ Jump to the full statement he signed, in English

Who Morsi was, and what "above the courts" meansMohamed Morsi ran for president as the Brotherhood's candidate (through its party, Freedom and Justice) and won Egypt's first free election in June 2012. He wasn't the head of the Brotherhood; that's its "Supreme Guide," Mohamed Badie. But he was its man in the presidency.

Nov 22, 2012, he issued a decree (a "constitutional declaration") that:
  • said no court could overturn anything he decided, past or future, until a new constitution and parliament were in place. His decisions were "final" and couldn't be appealed "by any way or by any entity";
  • banned the courts from dissolving the Brotherhood-dominated assembly writing the new constitution, and the upper house of parliament, both of which courts were about to rule on;
  • fired the country's top prosecutor and let Morsi pick his replacement himself;
  • gave him power to take "any measures" he saw fit to protect the revolution.
That is "putting himself above the courts": for that period, nobody could check him. Egypt's highest court called it a power grab, judges went on strike, and hundreds of thousands protested. On Dec 5 Morsi supporters attacked protesters outside the presidential palace; about ten people died. Morsi withdrew most of the decree on Dec 8, after the statement below. The new constitution was rushed through anyway.
The case against him
  • Jan 30, 2011 (HuffPost): during the Egyptian revolution he argued a Brotherhood government "would look nothing like Iran" and called the comparison to Hamas "foolish."
  • Nov 25, 2012, three days after the decree: a statement backing Morsi's "revolutionary decisions" ran in Al-Ahram, Egypt's state paper. Signer 33 of 46: "Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Sayed, New York." He was at Columbia in New York then.
  • It urged Morsi to purge the media and the police. Ten days later, Morsi supporters attacked protesters outside the palace.
  • His campaign never answered the Free Beacon about it.
What his side says
  • Fact-checkers (Bridge Michigan, Sept 3; PolitiFact, Oct 19) say there is no evidence he ever pledged support to the Brotherhood. The statement backed Egypt's elected president; it was "not a pledge of support for the Muslim Brotherhood as a whole."
  • The statement itself says the signers "do not hide our apprehension" about the powers, and asks Morsi to make clear they end once the constitution is written.
  • The 2011 piece is a pro-democracy argument: support the protesters, let Egyptians vote. It never calls the Brotherhood harmless outright.
  • Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president. Backing an election result isn't backing an ideology.
What he signed: the full statement in English, word for word (Al-Ahram, Nov 25, 2012)

My translation from the Arabic, start to finish, nothing cut. This is an Al-Ahram news story: the paper's own headline and intro, then the statement in quotes, then the signers. Check the Arabic against the link in the evidence box. There is no signed sheet with handwriting: "signing" here means his name is No. 33 on the list Al-Ahram printed under the statement.

Headline: "Statement by Morsi supporters in America backs his decisions and calls on him to 'purge the media and the police'"

Nov 25, 2012, 7:01 pm · New York, Al-Ahram Gate

[Al-Ahram's intro] A group of Egyptians in the United States issued a statement supporting President Mohamed Morsi's latest decisions, issued last Thursday, calling on the president to carry out what they described as a purge of the media and the police as soon as possible.

[The statement] "Egypt has lived through a state of tension recently, and a clear narrowing of the president's powers, which had the greatest effect in keeping the demands of the revolution from being met, because the remnants of the former regime control many pillars of the state, the most important being the judiciary, which has released everyone accused of killing the revolutionaries, as if no revolution had happened, and as if no blood had been shed for this dear nation."

"The direct cause of this is the public prosecutor's collusion in favor of the former regime, along with the absence of a legislature, the failure to finish writing the constitution, the manufacturing of one crisis after another, and the lack of enough support for the president to get rid of the prosecutor general in his first decision. Then came the unjustified campaign of walkouts by the political forces, which left the Egyptian street, already suffering from the state of the country, in despair. So revolutionary decisions were necessary, ones we have long called for and that the president delayed taking for reasons we do not know."

"We, as leaders of the Egyptian community, support the revolutionary decisions the president has taken, and we call on him to purge the media and the police as soon as possible. And since we do not hide our apprehension about such powers being in the hands of the president, we would like the president to make clear that this supplementary constitutional declaration ends as soon as the writing of the constitution is finished. We affirm that we, as Egyptian Americans, strongly reject the voices courting America and Europe to take a stand against the Egyptian government, and we will stand as one line in support of the elected president."

The signers

  1. Union of Egyptian Imams in North America, represented by Sheikh Mohamed El-Banni
  2. Egyptian American Foundation for Development
  3. Dr. Khaled Lamada, New York
  4. Dr. Hassan El-Sayyah, Virginia
  5. Dr. Mohamed Helmy, Egyptians in America Network
  6. Dr. Akram El-Zend, Sa'ed Foundation
  7. Mohamed El-Khashab, head of ART channels America
  8. Sameh El-Hennawy, American Businessmen's Association
  9. Dr. Hany Saqr, Egyptians in America League
  10. Dr. Khaled Hassan, Maryland
  11. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Hakam, Seattle
  12. Dr. Ahmed Esmat El-Bendary, president of the Muslim American Society
  13. Walid Yousry, Chicago
  14. Ahmed Shedid, New Jersey
  15. Ahmed El-Hattab, Indiana
  16. Dr. Mohamed Morgan, Boston
  17. Ramadan Radwan, Houston
  18. Ahmed Fayed, Las Vegas
  19. Tarek Mohamed, California
  20. Dr. Amr Abbas, Egyptian Foundation, Michigan
  21. Dr. Safieddin Hamed, Pennsylvania
  22. Dr. Hamdy Radwan, North Carolina
  23. Ahmed Shehata, Washington
  24. Dr. Iman Shehata, New York
  25. Dr. Amr Morsi, New Jersey
  26. Dr. Faten Hassan, New York
  27. Dr. Mohamed Saadia, New York
  28. Dr. Hussein Mohamed, New York
  29. Dr. Ahmed Mostafa, Bridge Organization
  30. Dr. Mohamed Amr Atwa, Islamic Relief USA
  31. Dr. Khaled El-Sayes, Rebuilding Egypt
  32. Dr. Azmy Allam, Michigan
  33. Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Sayed, New York ← him
  34. Dr. Hossam Omar, New York
  35. Dr. Nagat Abaseery
  36. Fatma Mohamed
  37. Dr. Tarek Hussein, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
  38. Dr. Hesham El-Gayar, Egyptian Foundation, Michigan
  39. Alaa Fahmy, Chicago
  40. Hajja Ola Fahmy, Chicago
  41. Nancy Negm, Washington
  42. Dr. Amir El-Sayed, Washington
  43. Amira Ahmed, Washington
  44. Dr. Amin Mahmoud, Maryland
  45. Dr. Ali Mousa
  46. Dr. Sameh Moslem
Things to notice when you go through it
  • The words "Muslim Brotherhood" never appear. It backs "the elected president." That's the fact-checkers' whole point.
  • But it backs the specific decree that put Morsi above the courts, calls it "revolutionary," and says he should have done it sooner.
  • It asks him to "purge the media and the police." It doesn't say how. In the months after, Morsi's government prosecuted journalists, and the TV comedian Bassem Youssef, for "insulting the president."
  • It does flag worry: "we do not hide our apprehension" about the powers, and asks that they end once the constitution is written.
  • It tells Egyptian Americans to oppose anyone asking the US or Europe to pressure Morsi.
  • Who else signed: No. 12 is the president of the Muslim American Society; No. 37 is from CAIR. Al-Ahram's headline calls the whole group "Morsi supporters in America."
  • Bridge Michigan's line, "no evidence he ever pledged support to the Brotherhood," is literally true of this text. Whether backing the Brotherhood's president in his biggest power grab amounts to the same thing is the debate.
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 06AContext
France 24: protesters surround Morsi's palace
Start 0:00, stop 0:58 (58 sec). Live from outside the palace: tear gas, crowds, the anger at Morsi's decree.
File: 06A-france24-palace-siege-LONG.mp4
▶ 06BContext
AP Archive: clashes outside the palace
Start 0:00, stop 0:45.
File: 06B-ap-palace-clashes.mp4
Talk about it
  • Read the statement together. Is it support for an elected president, or support for the Brotherhood?
  • He was in his late 20s. Does a statement from 2012 still count?

7Did he speak to Brotherhood-linked groups?New

The "speech in college" story. It's a short clip from his university's Muslim Students Association. Plus a convention he spoke at this September.

Heads upThe viral clip is 15 seconds long and it's from a promo video, not a full speech. In it, a young man says: "The religion came not to enslave, not to oppress, but as a mercy, as an opportunity to be dignified, to be raised, to be called a believer." That's all of it. The case against him is about the group, and about whether that line matches the whole text.
The case against him
  • At the University of Michigan he was vice president, then president, of the Muslim Students Association (MSA).
  • The national MSA was founded in 1963, and its founders included members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • The posters (Great Lakes HQ, Pamela Geller) call it "preaching the Quran to the Muslim Brotherhood group."
  • ISNA convention, Detroit, Sept 2026: he spoke on a panel and got a standing ovation. The speaker list included Pakistani cleric Tariq Masood, who per Pakistani media admitted marrying off his 13-year-old niece and gave a 2024 sermon titled "The Final Humiliation of the Jews."
  • In a 2011 podcast he named Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the Brotherhood's founder, as one of three writers he draws inspiration from (per the Free Beacon). The US had barred Ramadan in 2004 over donations to a Hamas-linked charity. He was later convicted of rape in Switzerland.
What his side says
  • The MSA today is a normal campus club at hundreds of colleges: Friday prayers, Ramadan dinners, volunteering. The rest of that same video is students playing football, eating together, and fixing sidewalks.
  • Fox News Digital, after looking into it, says it found no tie between El-Sayed and the Brotherhood.
  • On ISNA, his spokeswoman: "Abdul is not affiliated with and does not endorse any other participant of the conference."
  • What he actually said at ISNA was about belonging: "We are a community as Muslim Americans who believe in the rhyming of our Muslim ideals and our American ideals."
  • Ramadan held a chair at Oxford while El-Sayed was there. Naming a famous scholar in 2011 is not endorsing what he was convicted of years later.
"Not to enslave, not to oppress": what the Quran says about non-believersThe case against: that line is the friendly half. The Quran also says this (Sahih International translation, quran.com):
  • 9:29 "Fight against those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day... from those who were given the Scripture [Jews and Christians], [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."
  • 9:5 "Kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them... But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way."
  • 5:51 "O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies."
  • 48:29 "Those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves."
  • 98:6 Disbelievers among Jews, Christians and polytheists "will be in the fire of Hell... Those are the worst of creatures."
Dhimmis. The word isn't in the Quran; it comes from Islamic law built on 9:29. A dhimmi is a Jew or Christian (later others) living under Muslim rule: "protected," allowed to keep their faith, but paying the jizya tax and living as second-class subjects. The Pact of Umar, the classic list of terms (credited to the second caliph, but written down centuries later), has dhimmis promise: no new churches or synagogues, no repairing old ones in Muslim areas, no crosses in public, no weapons, no riding on saddles, distinctive dress, standing up when a Muslim wants their seat, no houses taller than Muslims' houses. Break the terms and you lose your protection.

His side would say: the same book says "There shall be no compulsion in religion" (2:256), and "Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion... from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them" (60:8). Most Muslim scholars read 9:5 and 9:29 as about specific wars in the 7th century, not standing orders, and almost no Muslim country today has a dhimmi system. The verses are real, and how they're read is the argument. Don't say he believes the harsh reading. Nobody has asked him.
Heads upTwo things I could not confirm: (1) that the speaker is El-Sayed. The posters say so, and I found no denial, but he graduated in 2007 and the video is labeled 2009-2010, so it's either older footage or a return visit. (2) The Ramadan quote: I found the Free Beacon's report, not the podcast itself. Say "the Free Beacon reports."
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 07AContext
University of Michigan MSA trailer, 2009-2010 (the club's own upload)
Start 2:20, stop 2:45 (25 sec). The viral 15 seconds plus a little on each side. It's a montage with music, so there's no longer speech to play.
File: 07A-msa-2009-video.mp4
Talk about it
  • Is a college club fair game because of who founded the national group in 1963?
  • "Not to enslave, not to oppress": is that an honest summary of the religion's view of non-believers, or the brochure version?

8The 2011 research paper: what did it actually say?

The paper that's being called racist and "eugenics." What's going around isn't quite what the paper says.

Heads upIt is not about Muslim women marrying Muslim men. The paper never mentions Muslims or religion. It's about Arab-American mothers and whether the baby's father was Arab or not, and how that lined up with premature births. It also never says anyone should marry or have kids with anyone. I read the whole paper.
The case against him
  • Sen. Ted Cruz: "'science' with a pre-ordained racist & eugenics outcome."
  • Headlines: "warns Arab women not to procreate outside their race" (Legal Insurrection), "racist Columbia research paper" (NY Post).
  • Critics ask: flip it around. If a white researcher published that white women had worse births with non-white fathers, would anyone defend it?
  • The paper controls for only a few things. It can't rule out that the gap comes from something else entirely, and the paper admits that.
What his side says
  • I couldn't find any response from El-Sayed or his campaign on this one.
  • Comparing birth outcomes across ethnic groups is routine in public health. It reports a pattern; it doesn't tell anyone what to do.
  • One of the two explanations the paper offers is that discrimination against mixed couples causes stress, which is the opposite of saying mixed couples are bad.
  • Arab-American mothers already have lower premature-birth rates than white mothers. The study was trying to figure out why.
The evidence, direct links
Clips
Put on screen No news clip worth playing. Pull up the paper itself (link above) and read the title and the one-line result out loud.
Talk about it
  • Is this a racist paper, or a normal study with an ugly title?

9Who's paying for his race? The money tied to CAIRNew

Not $750. The real numbers are in the super PAC, and they run through his father-in-law and CAIR's own political arm. All of it is in public FEC filings.

Why CAIR is a problem, in 30 seconds
  • Holy Land case (2008): named an unindicted co-conspirator in the biggest terror-financing trial in US history; the judge found "ample evidence" tying it to Hamas.
  • Its founders: FBI wiretaps put co-founders Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad at a secret 1993 Philadelphia meeting of Hamas supporters. They started CAIR the next year.
  • The FBI cut off formal outreach contact with CAIR in 2008.
  • Designated a terrorist group by the UAE (2014), Texas (Nov 2025) and Florida (Dec 2025; approved by the state cabinet Sept 2026).
  • Oct 7: Awad said he was "happy to see people breaking the siege." The White House condemned it.
Fair to add: the federal government has never designated CAIR or charged it with anything, and CAIR has sued Texas and Florida over the labels.
Follow the money (FEC filings)
Feb 3, Mar 31, Jun 22, 2026Tayeb Jukaku (father-in-law, CAIR Michigan board) to Fighting for Michigan PAC, the main super PAC backing El-Sayed$300,000
Jul 20, 2026Into Unity & Justice Fund (CAIR's super PAC): $100,000 from CAIR Action (CAIR's own political arm) + $100,000 from Jukaku + $100,000 from two other donors, all the same day$300,000 in
Jul 21, 2026The next day, Unity & Justice Fund to Fighting for Michigan PAC$175,000
Into the pro-El-Sayed super PAC from his father-in-law and CAIR's PAC$475,000
2025-26Straight to his campaign from at least 41 people who work for or have led CAIR (Fox News review of FEC filings), including Awad's $750$115,000+
CAIR-connected money, all toldabout $590,000
Through Oct 14Fighting for Michigan spent $6 million supporting El-Sayed
Correction on SoltanMohamed Soltan did not give $300,000. That was the father-in-law. FEC shows Soltan gave El-Sayed's campaign $7,000 (two $3,500 checks, the legal max for the primary and general). He also gave to Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Republican Rep. Lance Gooden. Use the Jukaku and CAIR numbers; they're the big ones.
The case against him
  • Nearly half a million dollars reached the pro-El-Sayed super PAC from his CAIR-board father-in-law and from CAIR's PAC, which CAIR's own political arm had just funded.
  • The timing: CAIR Action and Jukaku each put $100,000 into CAIR's PAC on July 20, and $175,000 went out to the El-Sayed PAC on July 21, two weeks before the primary he won by about a point.
  • Nihad Awad, CAIR's co-founder: "happy to see people breaking the siege" after Oct 7. He gave El-Sayed $750. El-Sayed kept it.
  • Getting money out of politics is one of El-Sayed's main promises.
What his side says
  • Every dollar is legal and disclosed. CAIR has never been charged with anything.
  • Candidates can't control what a super PAC takes in. By law he can't even coordinate with it.
  • Scale: the CAIR-linked money is about 7% of what Fighting for Michigan raised ($6.8 million). Its biggest donors also include the UAW and Medicare for All groups. AIPAC-aligned groups spent $30 million+ against him in the primary.
  • Mohamed Soltan is an American citizen Egypt jailed for life in its crackdown; the US got him freed. He isn't his father.
  • Tying every Muslim donor to CAIR is guilt by association with the biggest Muslim civil rights group in the country.
The evidence, direct links
Clips
Put on screen No clip. Put the money table above on screen, then the Awad screenshots.
Talk about it
  • Half a million from his father-in-law and CAIR's PAC. Does it matter that it went to a super PAC and not straight to him?
  • Should he give back Awad's $750? Would you?

10Temple Israel: did he excuse a terror attack?New

A Hezbollah-inspired attack on a synagogue in his own state, and what he said the next day.

The case against him
  • The next day, after condemning it: "Hurt people hurt people. Violence is a cycle." Critics say that explains the attack.
  • At a University of Michigan event weeks later, asked if the same applies to a Jew who attacked a mosque after Oct 7: "After Oct. 7, there was a whole genocide against Palestinians."
  • He only apologized on Aug 29, after winning the primary, and it was "to anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful."
  • Rogers: "When someone says you might have been offended by what I said, that's not an apology." A Detroit rabbi said it didn't go far enough.
What his side says
  • He condemned it, in the same video: "There is never a justification for attacking innocent people or houses of worship."
  • He apologized in person to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus: "I'm really sorry. That was not my intention... What I was trying to do is offer context for why it happened, but it wasn't the time for context, and you don't ever want to trample somebody's pain."
  • On Meet the Press: "if I step on somebody's grief, of course I regret that."
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 10AContext
WDIV: Officer Zena Daily, first officer on scene
Start 1:00, stop 2:20 (1:20). What it was like inside, and that every child went home safe.
File: 10A-wdiv-first-officer-LONG.mp4
▶ 10BBoth sides in one clip
El-Sayed's own video, the day after
Start 0:58, stop 2:02 (1:04). The condemnation and "hurt people hurt people" together. Don't cut his condemnation out.
File: 10B-el-sayed-day-after-LONGER.mp4
▶ 10CSupports his side
The apology, in his own voice (Fox News, Aug 31)
Start 0:18, stop 0:54 (36 sec). Him, not a reporter: "To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I'm really sorry... it wasn't the time for context." Then he pivots to Piker: "If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you're missing the boat."
File: 10C-fox-apology-own-words.mp4
▶ 10DSupports the case against him
The National Desk: Rogers and a Detroit rabbi on the apology
Start 1:55, stop 2:52 (57 sec). Rogers: "that's not an apology." Rabbi Asher Lopatin: he hasn't recognized Israel's legitimacy, hasn't denounced Piker, hasn't apologized for calling Israel "bloodthirsty."
File: 10D-national-desk-rogers-rabbi.mp4
▶ 10ESupports his side
Meet the Press, Oct 11: the regret
Start 21:10, stop 22:09 (59 sec). The Slotkin conversation and "of course I regret that."
File: 10E-meet-the-press-regret.mp4
Talk about it
  • He condemned it and he apologized. Is that enough?
  • "To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful": real apology or a non-apology?

11Hasan Piker: is he responsible for who he campaigns with?New

Piker is a huge left-wing streamer (3 million subscribers) your audience may not know. He's campaigned with El-Sayed in Michigan. Introduce him first.

Context for the Ziwe interviewAbout the Ziwe clips (11D to 11G): Ziwe is a comedy interview show. She reads him his own past quotes and baits him on purpose, and some answers are jokes. Play the clips where he answers for real, and don't quote the bits she made him say ("say I love Donald Trump"). Posted Oct 12, 2026; in it he mentions flying back from Michigan.
The case against him
  • Piker in 2019: "America deserved 9/11." He's said Hamas is "a thousand times better" than Israel.
  • To Ziwe, Oct 2026, read his own list: "America deserved 9/11," "your favorite flag is Hezbollah's," told a Vietnamese refugee to "suck a d---," joked about going back to when "lynchings were happening." His answer: "Some of them were taken out of context. Some of them are absolutely things that I stand by." On Hezbollah's flag he only said: "I didn't get suspended for that one."
  • Proud American? "Not really... I'm a citizen of the world." His dream for America: "Full-blown United Soviet Republic of the United States."
  • Is he a radical? "There is a time and place for labor militancy... We're not there yet."
  • El-Sayed held a rally with him at the University of Michigan and posted it on his own channel. Haley Stevens and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, said he should distance himself.
  • Asked about it: "I'm not as focused on who I'm campaigning with." After the apology: "a streamer in California."
What his side says
  • Piker walked back the 9/11 line two days later.
  • Piker reaches millions of young voters. Candidates don't vet every supporter, and El-Sayed doesn't own Piker's words.
  • The Ziwe interview is a comedian trying to get a rise out of him, and he plays along. Joking on a comedy show isn't a policy platform.
  • El-Sayed's line: the race is "about affordability in Michigan... being able to see a doctor in Michigan," not a streamer.
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 11ASupports the case against him
Piker: "America deserved 9/11" (2019 stream)
All 24 seconds.
File: 11A-piker-9-11.mp4
▶ 11BSupports the case against him
Fox News: Haley Stevens, a Democrat
Start 3:20, stop 3:58 (38 sec). The poll on him being "too extreme," the question, and her answer: "I'm calling on that."
File: 11B-fox-stevens-on-piker-LONG.mp4
▶ 11CSupports his side
MS NOW: asked if he'll keep campaigning with Piker
Start 9:06, stop 9:17. "I'm not as focused on who I'm campaigning with." Short, but it's the whole answer.
File: 11C-ms-now-piker-campaigning.mp4
▶ 11DSupports the case against him
Ziwe, Oct 12: she reads him his own quotes. The best one.
Start 15:10, stop 17:25 (2:15). 9/11, the Hezbollah flag, the Vietnamese refugee, the lynching joke, the "from a utilitarian perspective" rape line, then "What the [bleep] is wrong with you?" and his answer: some out of context, some "I stand by." Has profanity and a crude rape line; Riverside won't bleep it.
File: 11D-ziwe-piker-the-list.mp4
▶ 11ESupports the case against him
Ziwe: "Do you consider yourself a proud American?"
Start 9:17, stop 11:19 (2:02). "Not really... I'm a citizen of the world," then "technically" yes. His dream for America: "Full-blown United Soviet Republic of the United States." Ends on his Malcolm X quote. There's a silly 20-second bit about jalapeno poppers in the middle.
File: 11E-ziwe-piker-proud-american.mp4
▶ 11FSupports the case against him
Ziwe: "Do you identify as a radical?"
Start 24:12, stop 25:13 (1:01). "I don't think any of the things that I believe are radical," then "a time and place for labor militancy... We're not there yet," then she makes him say "pacify, don't be violent." Ends with her naming El-Sayed as one of the progressives he's talked with.
File: 11F-ziwe-piker-radical.mp4
▶ 11GSupports the case against him
Ziwe: "Let the streets soak in red capitalist blood" (optional)
Start 20:41, stop 21:05 (24 sec). She reads his old line, then asks about the Oscar parties: "Jeff Bezos was there." Short, funny, makes the champagne-socialist point. He doesn't address the quote.
File: 11G-ziwe-piker-red-blood.mp4
Talk about it
  • Where's your line on holding a candidate responsible for a supporter?
  • After hearing Piker say "some of them I stand by," should El-Sayed still be on stage with him?

12Israel, Iran and October 7th: where does he stand?

His own words on Israel since Oct 7, and the yes-or-no questions he wouldn't answer yes or no.

The case against him
  • Oct 21, 2023, two weeks after Oct 7 and before the ground invasion: "At the heart of the genocide being perpetrated against innocent Palestinians today..."
  • Asked three times on CNN if Israel has a right to exist: "I'm not going to play this gotcha game."
  • Oct 7, 2025 fundraising email: opened with "Netanyahu's military," never said Hamas. His campaign says it "mistakenly went out."
  • Debate, Iran or Israel, which is the bigger threat: "a ridiculous hypothetical... both of them have proven dangerous."
  • An Iranian-American student whose uncle got 50 lashes asked if he stands against the IRGC (Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a US-designated terror group). He never said yes.
What his side says
  • He has condemned Hamas on the record: "heinous attack on October 7th... I condemned it then, and I condemn it now."
  • On right to exist: "Israel exists... does everybody have equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination? That's Jewish Israelis and Palestinians."
  • On Iran: "I agree that Iran is a dangerous threat. That's not a question." His argument is that Israel is pulling the US into a war with Iran.
  • To the student he said he will "always stand with movements for freedom and democracy" in Iran.
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 12ABoth sides in one clip
CNN: Kasie Hunt asks if Israel has a right to exist
Start 0:00, stop 1:36 (1:36). The refusal and his whole argument. Long enough that nobody can say you clipped him.
File: 12A-cnn-right-to-exist-LONG.mp4
▶ 12BBoth sides in one clip
NBC: the debate answer plus his explanation
Start 5:33, stop 6:22 (49 sec). "Ridiculous hypothetical," then "I agree that Iran is a dangerous threat."
File: 12B-nbc-iran-or-israel.mp4
▶ 12CSupports the case against him
The IRGC question at the town hall
Start 1:53, stop 2:35, then 3:57 to 4:10. "You still haven't said it, and we're dying."
File: 12C-irgc-town-hall.mp4
Optional: your take as a vet on how Israel fights (John Spencer clips)

Your opinion and experience. Credit Spencer for his claim; he does not call the IDF "the most moral army" and says so on camera.

▶ 12X1Context
John Spencer (retired Army major, urban warfare expert) on The Saad Truth
Start 24:15, stop 25:01. More done to limit civilian deaths than any military in history, then he declines to say "most moral."
File: 12X1-spencer-saad-main.mp4
▶ 12X2Context
Spencer: the Battle of Mosul
Start 22:10, stop 22:53.
File: 12X2-spencer-mosul.mp4
▶ 12X3Context
US Air Force Gen. Charles Wald on roof knocking
All 73 seconds.
File: 12X3-gen-wald-roof-knocking.mp4
Talk about it
  • He says Iran is a threat and Israel is dragging us into war. Is that a dodge or a real position?
  • Why won't he just say "yes, Israel has a right to exist"?

14Same words as the far right?New

Canary Mission posted a video on Oct 25 cutting Mamdani, El-Sayed and other Democrats together with white nationalists, all going after AIPAC. The question isn't whether they're on the same team. It's whether sharing this one big target with neo-Nazis should tell you something.

The Canary Mission videoCanary Mission posted it on X on Oct 25: "Watch Mamdani, El-Sayed, and white supremacists talk about AIPAC, side by side. The similarities are staggering." Every speaker has a name card, so here is who is actually in it. El-Sayed: one line, 11 seconds, about Netanyahu dictating US foreign policy. Mamdani: the opening 22 seconds. Other Democrats: Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, three DSA candidates, two congressional candidates, ex-Rep. Jamaal Bowman. The far right: Nick Fuentes, David Duke, Stew Peters, Rick Wiles, Ken O'Keefe, Chuck Baldwin, James Fishback, Dan Bilzerian and a swastika-wearing neo-Nazi burning an Israeli flag. The ugliest lines are not his: "Name the Jew" is Stew Peters, "dual national traitors" is O'Keefe, "Zionist Jewish extremists" is Duke, "White power" is the neo-Nazi. One word to avoid: "alliance." The video shows the words overlap, not that anyone is working together. Say "sounds like," not "allied with."
Put the words next to each other
  • El-Sayed, ABC, Oct 20: "Israel is not actually our friend." An ally "that takes your money to push you into wars you shouldn't be fighting is not an ally." Netanyahu tried for 40 years to get a president to fight Iran and "finally found a president dumb enough to do it." [13B]
  • El-Sayed in the Canary Mission video: "whether or not it is in our best interest to allow the Israeli government and Benjamin Netanyahu to dictate to us what our foreign policy will be." Cut straight to David Duke: "The people who run the American foreign policy are the Zionist Jewish extremists." [14A, 2:01]
  • El-Sayed on AIPAC, ABC: "you can imagine how much money they spend every cycle to shape who serves in America's Congress."
  • The ad made for him: "Why does Mike Rogers care so much about what Israelis want? And so little about what you want?" [13A]
  • Canary Mission's April cut of Kasparian and Fuentes (lines from both, mixed, so don't pin any one line on Fuentes): "Israel controls our government." "We have to join Israel's war of choice." "The real threat to America is from Israel." [14B]
The case against him
  • Not the same side, the same target. When the one thing you share with David Duke and Nick Fuentes is the one Jewish state and the lobby that backs it, that's worth stopping on. Hatred of the same thing puts you in the same place, whatever you think of each other.
  • Put his line next to Duke's and the only difference is the word "Jewish": he says Netanyahu dictates our foreign policy, Duke says "Zionist Jewish extremists" run it. [14A, 2:01]
  • "Dual loyalty" is the oldest charge against Jews in America. In the video the left says "allegiance to a foreign country" (Omar) and the right says "tribal loyalty to a foreign state." Same idea, both ends.
  • The story is the same: Israel takes our money, drags us into its wars, and buys our politicians. El-Sayed tells it on ABC, and Canary Mission's April cut shows a left-wing host and Fuentes telling it in the same words.
  • "Israel is not actually our friend" and "The real threat to America is from Israel" are not far apart.
  • When the far left and the far right land on the same enemy, and that enemy is the one Jewish country, it's fair to ask why.
  • The PAC behind the grocery ad is run by Cenk Uygur, who calls his critics "Israel First," and whose co-host Canary Mission already matched line for line with Fuentes.
What his side says
  • Sounding alike isn't an alliance. There's no evidence he's worked with, been endorsed by, or praised anyone on the far right.
  • Fuentes isn't on his side. After the primary he called El-Sayed a "DSA-aligned progressive" who is "hiding his power level," and called his platform "a distillation of what woke 2.0 really is." [14C]
  • Criticizing a lobby is not "Jews control the government." AIPAC-aligned groups really did spend more than $30 million against him in the primary. Saying so is a fact, not a conspiracy theory.
  • He says he will "always stand forthrightly against antisemitism in every form," and that using antisemitic terms against Jews over Israel is "wrong." [14D] On primary night he said his commitment to Jewish safety is "the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters." [0A]
  • Canary Mission is an anonymous site with a side. A side-by-side edit can make anybody sound like anybody.
  • His 11 seconds are a foreign-policy complaint, not hatred. He never says "Jew," never says traitor, never says anyone controls anything except one government's influence. The video gets its punch by cutting him straight into David Duke. [14A]
  • By that logic, anyone who opposes a war or a lobby Duke also opposes is on Duke's side. Lots of Republicans now say "no more wars for Israel" too; the video includes Fishback, a GOP candidate for Florida governor.
The evidence, direct links
Clips (play in code order)
▶ 14ASupports the case against him
Canary Mission: Mamdani, El-Sayed and white supremacists, side by side
Start 0:00, stop 2:53, the whole thing. El-Sayed is on screen for 11 seconds, 2:01 to 2:12 (from The Dean Obeidallah Show): "We really need to ask ourselves whether or not it is in our best interest to allow the Israeli government and Benjamin Netanyahu to dictate to us what our foreign policy will be." The edit cuts straight from that to David Duke: "The people who run the American foreign policy are the Zionist Jewish extremists." Mamdani opens it (0:00 to 0:22, his June rally calling AIPAC "monsters"). Has F-bombs (Bilzerian, O'Keefe, the closing neo-Nazi); Riverside won't bleep them.
File: 14A-canary-mamdani-el-sayed-white-supremacists.mp4
▶ 14BSupports the case against him
Canary Mission, April: "Left vs Right? Ana Kasparian & Nick Fuentes say the same thing"
Start 0:00, stop 1:08 (1:08). The montage, cut before the profanity starts. Kasparian isn't El-Sayed: play it to show the format, and because her co-host's PAC made the grocery ad. Don't pin a line on El-Sayed that he didn't say.
File: 14B-canary-kasparian-fuentes.mp4
▶ 14CSupports his side
Nick Fuentes on El-Sayed's win (August)
Start 0:00, stop 1:31 (1:31). The far right's biggest young voice on El-Sayed: "a DSA-aligned progressive," "friendly with Hasan Piker," "hiding his power level for the general electorate," then "a distillation of what woke 2.0 really is." Shows Fuentes treats him as an enemy, not an ally. Clipped from Fuentes's show by an X account; the date of the original stream isn't given.
File: 14C-fuentes-on-el-sayed.mp4
▶ 14DSupports his side
The Lever: where he draws the line on antisemitism
Start 28:13, stop 29:44 (1:31). "I know that antisemitism exists and it's a very dangerous force." Jewish Americans shouldn't be "held accountable for what the Israeli government does." "I find it deeply frustrating when people use antisemitic terms to attack the Jewish people because of what Israel and its government are doing." His answer to this whole section, in his words.
File: 14D-lever-antisemitism.mp4
Talk about it
  • If the one thing you have in common with neo-Nazis is a huge one, does it matter that you hate them too?
  • Where's the line between criticizing AIPAC and "Israel controls our government"? Did he cross it?
  • "Israel is not actually our friend." Policy view, or the same thing Fuentes says in nicer words?
  • Is it fair to judge someone by who else uses the same words?

15The whole case, back to backNew

Read the red column straight through, then the blue one, no stopping. Each line is one breath. The code in brackets is the clip to replay if you want it.

The case against him
  1. He said his family has no Brotherhood ties. His own sister wrote "My family has long been MB," that their mother was a Brotherhood activist, and that she was praying for "all my family that supports the MB." [02A]
  2. He says he wasn't raised by his mother. But he calls her on camera on Mother's Day, "Love you, Mama," and his sister calls herself his "proud little sister." [03B]
  3. His mother worked for a charity the Treasury Department shut down as a terror financier. Her name is on its wire transfers. [03A]
  4. His father-in-law sits on CAIR's Michigan board and put $300,000 into the super PAC backing him.
  5. CAIR's own political arm and his father-in-law funded CAIR's PAC on July 20. The next day it sent $175,000 to the same pro-El-Sayed super PAC. Nearly half a million dollars from that one circle.
  6. CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the biggest Hamas financing case in US history. The FBI cut ties. Texas, Florida and the UAE call it a terror group.
  7. His sister-in-law was on the terror watch list, represented by CAIR. He blamed her name. The list doesn't work that way. [04B]
  8. In 2012 he signed a statement backing Morsi, the Brotherhood's president, three days after Morsi put himself above Egypt's courts, and urged him to "purge the media and the police." [06A]
  9. In 2011 he wrote that a Brotherhood government "would look nothing like Iran."
  10. The day after a Hezbollah-inspired attack on a synagogue full of preschoolers, he said "hurt people hurt people." He apologized five months later, after he won his primary. [10B, 10C]
  11. He campaigns with Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11, and who this month said of his worst quotes, "some of them... I stand by." [11A, 11D]
  12. He won't say Israel has a right to exist, called Iran-or-Israel "a ridiculous hypothetical," and wouldn't say yes to standing against the IRGC. [12A, 12C]
  13. He has called himself a physician. He's never been licensed to treat a single patient.
  14. A PAC backing him ran a TV ad saying the egg money goes to "killing Palestinians." He hasn't said a word about it, and five days earlier he said on ABC that "Israel is not actually our friend." [13A, 13B]
  15. On Israel, his story matches the far right's: Israel takes our money, drags us into its wars, and buys our politicians. [13B, 14B]
What his side says
  1. He disavowed the Brotherhood the moment he was asked: "Sure, yeah, absolutely." PolitiFact rated the claim that he didn't disavow False. [05A]
  2. No fact-checker has found him pledging support to the Brotherhood. The 2012 statement backed an elected president, and said so with worries attached.
  3. He was never charged with anything. Neither was his mother, his sister-in-law, CAIR or ISNA.
  4. His mother left when he was a toddler. Her college politics in 1970s Egypt aren't his, and his sister's posts were critical of the Brotherhood.
  5. Every donation is legal and public, and a candidate can't control a super PAC. The CAIR money is about 7% of it, against $30 million+ spent to beat him.
  6. He condemned Temple Israel the same day: "never a justification." He apologized in person, and said he regrets it. [10C, 10E]
  7. He's condemned Hamas and Oct 7 "then and now," and says Iran is "a dangerous threat."
  8. He doesn't own Piker's words. Candidates don't vet every supporter.
  9. The 2011 paper is ordinary public health research. It never mentions religion.
  10. The grocery ad isn't his, and he opposes military aid to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the rest too, not just Israel. [13C]
  11. Nick Fuentes attacks him; he doesn't back him. Sounding alike on one issue isn't an alliance. [14C]
  12. He has a real medical degree from Columbia and a doctorate from Oxford, and he's said it plainly: "I don't practice medicine."
  13. Much of this is about his relatives, not him, and plenty of it, he says, is about his name and his faith. "I'm not running to be a Muslim senator. I'm running for US Senate and happen to be Muslim." [05A]
Play it back to back (optional clip run, about 5 and a half minutes per side)Against: 02A (sister's posts) → 10B ("hurt people") → 11D (Piker's list) → 12C (IRGC). His side: 05A (disavow + JFK) → 10C (the apology) → 02B (AOC).
Talk about it
  • Which of these do you think is fair game, and which goes too far?
  • Rob: what's the one thing you'd want an undecided Michigan voter to take from this?

16Does he love his fellow Muslims more than he hates Israel?New

Opinion questionThis one is opinion, and the page says so. Micah's argument is in red, the strongest answer to it is in blue. The facts under it are checked; the conclusion is yours to make out loud and call your own.

The idea: Israel has done more than almost anyone to fight the people who kill the most Muslims. A man with staff briefing him every day still calls Israel the villain. What does that say about him?

Before you say it: three edits
  • "The most free and safe place for Muslims in the world" goes too far. Muslims in the US, Canada or Britain have the same rights or more. Arab towns in Israel are not safe right now: 252 murders in 2025, a record, mostly organized crime, and only about a third of Arab Israelis say they feel safe. What holds up: "the freest place for Muslims in the Middle East."
  • The Druze aren't Muslims. Their faith split off from Islam a thousand years ago. Use them as "minorities Israel protected from radical Islamists," not as proof Israel loves Muslims.
  • "Done more than any country" runs into ISIS. The ground war against ISIS was fought by Iraqi forces and the Kurdish-led SDF, about 11,000 SDF dead, with US air power. Israel helped with intelligence but wasn't the main fighter. Say "no country has taken on Iran and its proxies harder."
  • "Israel proper" is the right phrase. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are not Israeli citizens and don't get these rights.
The case against him
  • The people who kill the most Muslims are radical Islamists: Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, the Iranian regime. Israel has fought them harder and longer than anyone in the region.
  • Inside Israel proper, Muslims vote, sit in parliament, sit on the Supreme Court, and an Islamic party has been in government. Freedom House rates Israel the only Free country in the Middle East. Seven in ten Arab Israelis say they feel part of the state.
  • Israel bombed Syria's army to stop a massacre of the Druze, and stood alone in backing the Kurds. That's a country that protects minorities from radical Islam.
  • Israel's stated goal in Gaza is to remove Hamas and give Palestinians a future without it. Hamas ran Gaza for nearly 20 years and Gazans paid for it.
  • El-Sayed has staff who brief him on all of this. He can see what Iran and Hamas do to Muslims. He still makes Israel the villain, and says "Israel is not actually our friend." [13B]
  • Micah's opinion: a man with that much information who still decides Israel is evil hates Israel more than he loves his own people. If he can't see right and wrong here, I don't trust him to see it anywhere else. That's a flaw in moral character big enough that he shouldn't lead.
What his side says
  • Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry counts more than 74,000 Palestinians killed since Oct 7, 2023, nearly all of them Muslim, by Israeli strikes paid for partly with US weapons. A UN-backed monitor declared famine in Gaza City in August 2025. To him, that's the reason he speaks: love for Muslims, not hate for Israel.
  • He has condemned Hamas and Oct 7 "then and now," and calls Iran "a dangerous threat." He isn't defending the groups Israel fights. [12B]
  • He opposes military aid to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar too, all Muslim countries. That's a rule about aid, not a grudge against Israel. [13D]
  • Arab Israelis do have more rights than Muslims almost anywhere in the region, but they also live with the 2018 Nation-State Law, which says only Jews have national self-determination, and a record murder rate police haven't stopped.
  • Millions of Muslims in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule without Israeli citizenship. "Israel proper" leaves them out.
  • Criticizing a government's war isn't hating a country. Plenty of Israelis oppose Netanyahu's war too. Calling that a "moral flaw" that bars someone from office means a lot of voters, and a lot of Israelis, could never lead either.
The evidence, direct links
Talk about it
  • Can you hate a government's war and still love your own people? Or does where you point your anger tell you what you really care about?
  • Who has done more for ordinary Muslims in the last ten years: Israel, or the people El-Sayed calls allies?
  • Rob: is "he shouldn't lead" a fair conclusion, or a step too far from the facts?

Who's who, in one breath each

Words to keep out of your mouth