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A super PAC tied to the pro-Israel group AIPAC has resumed spending in Michigan’s critical Senate race, funding new mailers targeting Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to a new campaign finance report.
The group, United Democracy Project, hadn’t been involved in the general election despite spending millions to oppose El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, in the Democratic primary in August. The group filed a report with the Federal Election Commission on Friday showing that it spent $95,000 on mailers opposing El-Sayed.
The group is targeting 130,000 Jewish voters with mailers, according to spokesperson Patrick Dorton. The mailer features a headline about an attack on a Michigan synagogue in March, which the FBI described as “Hezbollah- inspired act of terrorism.”
“Abdul El-Sayed’s response: ‘Hurt people hurt people,’” the mailer reads, according to a copy shared with NBC News. El-Sayed apologized in late August for his response to the attack, saying his comments “may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify.”
The new spending is just a fraction of the $33 million United Democracy Project spent on ads in the Democratic primary against El-Sayed and in support of his primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Stevens is a staunch supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed has accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza.
El-Sayed is now facing off against former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who has slammed his opponent for his positions on Israel.
During their first debate Thursday night, Rogers said he would welcome AIPAC’s involvement when asked about an Axios report that the former congressman’s allies had asked the group to stay out of the race.
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“Anybody that wants to help my campaign stop a guy who can’t condemn terrorism in our own country because he’s so close to the people who are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, again, I’ll take all of that help,” Rogers said. El-Sayed interjected to say, “Again, I’ve condemned them.”
El-Sayed was asked during the debate whether he would support funding for defensive weapons for Israel if the country was attacked.
“I don’t want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries. I don’t know what’s so hard about that,” El-Sayed responded.
He was also whether Iran or Israel posed a bigger threat to the United States, and declined to answer, calling the question “a ridiculous hypothetical.”
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“I don’t want to be pushed into war by Israel, and I don’t want to be in a war with Iran,” El-Sayed said. “I want our money spent here to buy schools and healthcare and childcare here. I don’t understand why that is so inconceivable.”
Rogers, speaking to reporters at a campaign event Friday night in Highland Township, Michigan, noted that the expenditure was relatively small but suggested it would nonetheless get under El-Sayed’s skin.
“This tells you something that you need to know about my opponent: He is so anti-Jewish that one mail piece sends him into orbit,” Rogers said.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who appeared with Rogers at two events Friday, then jumped in to attack El-Sayed in more explicit terms.
“Look, AIPAC wouldn’t come here if Dr. El-Sayed didn’t sleep in a Bin Laden jersey,” Kennedy said.
Pressed by NBC News to explain the comment, Kennedy said: “He supports Hamas. He’s antisemitic. He hates Israel. He doesn’t feel gratitude for America.”
El-Sayed has condemned Hamas as “evil,” while also describing the Israeli government the same way. Rogers also repeatedly accused El-Sayed of supporting Hamas during the two candidates’ debate on Thursday.
El-Sayed responded in his closing statement by saying, “Look, I told you what this debate was going to be: him pointing at me and saying all kinds of foreign names, or him talking about himself. And I told you I’m interested in you.”
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