US Arabs eye ‘historic’ Senate win for Abdul El-Sayed despite AIPAC attacks

Dearborn, Michigan – The Arab American community in Michigan is grappling with profound distress and fatigue stemming from years of conflict in Palestine and Lebanon. Suehaila Amen, a local activist, described the situation as deeply painful, drawing on her own experiences in Lebanon. "To say the community is hurting is really an understatement," Amen said, her voice trembling with emotion. "Even in answering this question, I’m brought to tears because I lived there."

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To say the community is hurting is really an understatement. Even in answering this question, I’m brought to tears because I lived there.

Amidst this despair, a sense of hope has emerged with the rise of politicians advocating for a shift in U.S. foreign policy. In Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and public health advocate of Egyptian descent, is campaigning for a Senate seat. His platform includes redirecting funds from foreign wars to domestic investments and openly denouncing Israel's actions in Gaza, which he has labeled as genocide.

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This is my land too, my ancestral homeland. People are feeling like they are disregarded, that their lives don’t matter.

However, El-Sayed's campaign is facing a formidable challenge from well-funded pro-Israel groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has reportedly spent over $50 million to support his Democratic primary opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. "It would be absolutely spectacular to watch the fall of that so-called empire that AIPAC thinks that they hold," Amen remarked, expressing a sentiment echoed by many in the community.

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It would be absolutely spectacular to watch the fall of that so-called empire that AIPAC thinks that they hold.

At a recent campaign rally in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb often called the "capital of Arab America," the mention of AIPAC drew boos from the crowd. Abbas Alawieh, a candidate for Michigan's state Senate and a native of Bint Jbail, Lebanon, highlighted the symbolic significance of the rally's location at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center. "Bint Jbail is the village that I’m from on my mom’s side. Bint Jbail is actively experiencing an ethnic cleansing by the Israeli military," Alawieh stated, drawing parallels between the destruction in his ancestral homeland and the political battles being fought in Michigan.

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Abdul is the candidate that’s right for the state of Michigan and for this country. We want to show the world that not everybody is going to align with Israel’s interests, and that this is a country where candidates should be putting America first and should be putting their constituents first.