Some Jewish community leaders are condemning an advertisement released in support of Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is running against Republican Mike Rogers.
Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks news show posts the video online on behalf of Rebellion PAC, a “populist” political group he founded. El-Sayed’s campaign did not release or share the video and has not commented.
The video, viewed more than 5 million times, shows a couple shopping for groceries.
“You’re going to have to put those eggs back,” a woman tells her partner in the video. “We have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians.”
“Don’t we give Israel $4 billion a year anyways?” the man says.
“Apparently, it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza,” the woman says.
The woman then adds that the US is “probably” paying for Israel’s “universal health care.”
“Why does Mike Rogers care so much about what Israelis want and so little about what you want?” the ad says.
“Mike Rogers is for they/them,” the ad says, showing Israeli leaders and referring to a campaign ad against Kamala Harris’s 2024 election campaign. “Abdul El-Sayed is for you.”
Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt says in a statement, “You want to know what desperate looks like? Blaming the price of bananas on Israel. Consider this PAC ad just another example of scapegoating the Jewish state. At least we can thank them for a case study in antisemitism.”
Dan Shapiro, the Biden administration’s ambassador to Israel, says, “It’s entirely possible to oppose aid to Israel — whether on moral, foreign policy, or financial grounds — without promoting the fiction that such aid, or Israel itself, is responsible for what Americans pay for their groceries.”
The American Jewish Committee says, “Americans struggling to afford groceries deserve real solutions, not misinformation blaming support for Israel for their economic challenges.”
“Campaign season does not excuse the use of misleading — and harmful — claims. Voters in Michigan and across the country deserve better,” the committee says.
In response to criticism, Uygur says, “If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’re in a cult and don’t know it.”
“You think Israel is owed all the money it wants from US and if Americans don’t hand it over — without complaint — they’re antisemites. That’s insane, but you don’t realize it because you’ve lost your mind,” he says.
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