Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who regularly rails against Israeli influence on American elections, had no issue speaking at a conference aimed at influencing the politics of a foreign country over the weekend.
Surrounded by Pakistani flags, El-Sayed spoke at the Pakistan Association of America in Metro Detroit on Sunday, celebrating the 79th anniversary of Pakistani independence and calling for an end to military rule in the South Asian country, The Detroit Free Press reported. He also compared the fight for democracy in Pakistan to his party’s efforts against President Donald Trump.
“I’m so honored to be here with you today to celebrate Pakistani independence, but I do want to speak specifically to this moment right now because the only reason I could be running for office is because I was born in these United States of America because of an accident of history,” El-Sayed said.
“Democracy is a precious thing. It is a beautiful thing,” El-Sayed added. “And it operates on a knife’s edge, and we see that in these United States right now under a president who threatens the very ideals of democracy itself.”
El-Sayed went on to condemn the current regime in Pakistan that has jailed its political opponents, including the former prime minister. The Democratic candidate, who routinely bashes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) activities in U.S. elections, did not hesitate to push for major reforms in Pakistan while speaking at the Pakistan Association of America gathering.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.
The leftist Muslim made his opposition to Israel and AIPAC a central part of his Senate primary campaign against Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who was backed by AIPAC. El-Sayed regularly highlights how AIPAC and its affiliated groups spent roughly $30 million backing Stevens in the primary. In June, El-Sayed warned that he was “coming for the system that tells us that the best way to run and win campaigns is to take money from corporations and special interests like AIPAC,” adding that Israel was “the most egregious example” of foreign governments attempting to influence U.S. elections.
While El-Sayed touts himself as the candidate pushing back against foreign influence, questions have also been raised about outside influences on his own campaign. On Monday, The Midwesterner reported that El-Sayed’s campaign is benefiting from thousands of dollars from an Egyptian-American activist who was sentenced to life in prison for helping radicals in the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohamed Soltan, 38, the president of the American Committee for Middle East Rights, has made at least two contributions to El-Sayed’s campaign. Soltan’s organization has also donated $25,000 to the Fighting for Michigan PAC, which was created to support El-Sayed.
Soltan faced charges related to aiding protests against the military coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, including accusations that he funded and belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood. Soltan disputed the charges. He was released from prison in 2015 after pressure from the Obama administration.
El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for an Islamic charity later designated by the U.S. government as a supporter of terrorism after the organization was accused of funneling funds to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Hamas. El-Sayed has said little about his birth mother and said that his stepmother and grandparents mostly influenced him after Elkomy and his father divorced.
El-Sayed also displayed a book written by an Islamic scholar linked to the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist attack, the Washington Free Beacon first reported. The book, called “Dream Interpretation According to the Qur’an,” was written by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, an Islamic scholar listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the first bombing attack on New York’s World Trade Center. The book was just one of several tied to radical Islam seen on the bookshelf that El-Sayed attempted to hide from cameras in resurfaced documentary footage.
El-Sayed’s campaign responded, saying, “This was not Abdul’s bookshelf.” The campaign added, “Abdul is a doctor and Rhodes Scholar who reads widely, including authors whose views he may disagree with. A book appearing in the background of documentary footage is not an endorsement of its content nor a reflection of his beliefs.”
The Democrat has campaigned with Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, who said that “America deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed is also scheduled to headline a conference organized by the Islamic Society of North America over Labor Day weekend. El-Sayed’s panel is set to address “Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America” alongside Cenk Uygur, the radical-leftist founder of The Young Turks and Piker’s uncle.
Allies of Republican Mike Rogers, who’s running against El-Sayed in the general election, are reportedly asking AIPAC to back off plans to broadcast its support for Rogers. Axios reported that Rogers met with AIPAC chairman Michael Tuchin earlier this month before the organization held off on releasing an ad attacking El-Sayed.
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