Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has sparked controversy over his remarks about relations between Israel and the United States.
Asked in an ABC News interview released Tuesday whether Israel was a US ally, El-Sayed replied, "An ally that takes your money to push you into wars you shouldn't be fighting is not an ally."
"I think it's time for us to realize that Israel is actually not our friend," he added.
Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed shared his views on U.S.-Israel relations, saying he does not consider Israel an American ally: "I think it's time for us to realize that Israel is not actually our friend."
Watch the full conversation tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC News Live Prime's "All Access with Linsey Davis" streaming on @disneyplus and @hulu.
— ABC News (@ABC) October 19, 2026
This is not the first time El-Sayed, who is running for the US Senate in Michigan, has found himself at the center of controversy. US President Donald Trump addressed El-Sayed during a lunch in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday, saying, "He's a Muslim Brotherhood guy, 100 percent." Trump referred to the candidate as "Mohamed Abdul El-Sayed" and raised the prospect of him becoming the first Muslim to serve in the US Senate.
El-Sayed, whose full name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, has repeatedly denied allegations that he has ties to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that seeks to incorporate Islamic principles into all aspects of society. In January 2026, the US designated the movement's Egyptian branch, along with branches in Jordan and Lebanon, as terrorist organizations.
Allegations about El-Sayed's possible connections to the movement have intensified over the past two weeks, becoming a flashpoint in his election campaign after social media posts by his half-sister resurfaced. In one post, she wrote that she had spoken with their mother about "her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college." In another, she wrote that her family had long been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Confronted with the posts on NBC News, El-Sayed rejected the allegations.
"I have no ties. We have no ties," he said. "I have never had these conversations with my mother. I wasn't raised by my mother." He added, "You're using hearsay evidence from a tweet," dismissing the questioning as "just not serious."
El-Sayed was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents who divorced when he was 3 years old. His mother left Michigan, and he was raised by his father, Mohamed, and his stepmother, Jacqueline Johnson.
