For Israelis watching the American midterms, the result is hard to ignore. Democrats have won control of both houses of Congress, giving them far greater power to shape debates over American policy toward Israel.
Michigan has also elected Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim to win a seat in the US Senate. His victory speech included an accusation that American money was being sent to support “apartheid” and “genocide,” language we hear as a grave distortion of the war and of the country.
Outside El-Sayed’s victory celebration, supporters chanted, “Free, free Palestine.” That scene should trouble people who have watched American protests against Israel become hostile places for Jews. Given his prior comments, it is fair to ask what this incoming senator will do when anti-Israel activism crosses the line into antisemitism.
It may not be fair to say that the chant alone proves his supporters hate Jews, or that his speech was a lesson in antisemitic hatred, but he and his supporters have taken every opportunity to accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid.
Jews need no lecture about the difference between criticism and danger. We do need clear thinking about it. A politician may oppose military aid to Israel, use language Jews find deeply offensive, and still be entitled to an answer on the merits of our concerns.
Yet, Representative Ilhan Omar, Representative Rashida Tlaib, and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have not been shy about their resentment against Israel. All Americans must challenge what they say, how they govern, and investigate their donors.
We have a source indicating that a network of 4,000 American mosques may each sponsor students to study law, journalism, filmmaking, political science, and social work. According to the account we have heard, each mosque would support five students, one in each field.
If accurate, that would be a substantial undertaking that would produce 4,000 professionals in each of those fields sponsored by what may be a Qatari source. We have not been able to confirm yet a named organizer, budget, scholarship terms, or records establishing who would pay for it.
Those missing facts cannot be waved away. A scholarship that helps young Americans enter public life is not, by itself, a threat. The professions named in the claim influence legislation, reporting, culture and social policy; that makes the proposal worth examining. The question is whether any sponsor seeks to control recipients’ work or conceal a political purpose.
If the Qatari’s government continues to expand its funding of American educational or political activity, Americans deserve to know how much it provides, through whom and under what conditions. Israelis have reason to care about that answer, too. Foreign money creates obligations that often remain invisible to voters and readers.
The funding of elected officials deserves the same care. Campaign-finance records are a legitimate subject for public scrutiny, including records concerning El-Sayed, Omar, Tlaib and Mamdani. In Michigan, El-Sayed made opposition to AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – part of his political case, while his primary opponent received substantial backing from the pro-Israel group.
In New York, Mamdani’s campaign drew small donations and the city’s public matching funds system, while wealthy donors gave large sums to groups supporting his rival or opposing him. Those facts point to a heated contest over money and policy. They do not, on their own, point to secret foreign control. Still, the financing to afford those political contests deserves scrutiny.
Hostility toward Israel, American Jews
We see rising hostility toward Israel in American politics, hear the words used to describe the Jewish state and fear that American Jews will find themselves increasingly isolated. That fear should be taken seriously.
So should the prospect that elected leaders will excuse antisemitism when it comes from their allies. Every politician named here should be pressed to speak clearly when Jews are threatened, harassed, or blamed collectively for Israel’s actions and not say, as El-Sayed did following the attack on a Michigan synagogue, that “hurt people hurt people.”
There is a strong Israeli case to make after this election. The United States Congress will have new leadership and strong arguments about Israel come January. Before then and thereafter, El-Sayed’s words deserve a direct rebuttal, and every elected official deserves scrutiny over their funding and conduct. The alleged scholarship effort also deserves investigation.
If there is a conspiratorial move by a funding source to direct politics against Western democracy, that must be shut down.
There have been concerns voiced that America is headed in the same direction as France. With the election of so many far-left Democrats in the US, that concern is not to be minimized.
A democracy is weakened when money buys hidden access. At this point, suspicion of funding and anti-democratic goals is yet to be investigated. Both American Jews and Israelis have every reason to watch these developments closely.
Dr. Michael J. Salamon is a psychologist specializing in trauma, abuse, and the psychology of terror, and is the director of ADC Psychological Services in Netanya and Hewlett, NY.
Louis Libin is an expert in military strategies, wireless innovation, emergency communications, and cybersecurity, and is an adjunct professor at the US War College.