Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) heavily criticized an ad from an anti-establishment political action committee for “fearmongering” about aid being sent to Israel, as the video alleges American taxpayers are funding Israel’s “killing Palestinians.”
The ad was posted on social media by Rebellion PAC, founded by Cenk Uygur, a political commentator and the host of the political talk show The Young Turks, in support of Michigan Democratic candidate Abdul el Sayed, who beat Stevens in the primary election.
“This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong,” Stevens posted in response to the ad. “It is not a winning strategy for any state. It does nothing to help Michigan Democrats win up and down the ballot in eight days.”
The couple in the ad have a brief conversation about items they may need to put back on the grocery store shelf because “we give Israel $4 billion a year.” The pair go on to note Israel is set to receive an additional $26 billion, which costs each American taxpayer around $161.
“Apparently, it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza,” the woman in the video said.
The man then asks if Israelis have universal healthcare, to which the woman responds, “Yeah, they do. Paying for that too, probably.”
“Why does Mike Rogers care so much about what Israelis want, and so little about what you want?” a narrator said at the end of the video. “Mike Rogers is for they/them. Abdul el Sayed is for you.”
Stevens framed the ad as hurting the Democratic message in the midterm elections, claiming attacking Israel is not the correct way to make a point.
“Do we need to lower costs by building more homes, securing people’s health care, and creating a fairer federal tax code? Yes, we do!!” Stevens posted. “How we do so is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world. I want to see Democrats succeed at every level, and that means keeping our focus on lowering costs for Michigan families and reining in this out-of-control President.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which spent big in support of Stevens’s primary campaign, also criticized the advertisement.
“We know Abdul El-Sayed won’t disavow Hasan ‘America deserved 9/11’ Piker, but will he disavow the despicable ad produced by Piker’s uncle?” the organization said in a statement. “The ad is as transparent in its bigotry as it is devoid of facts.”
Uygur, who posted the ad, is the uncle of controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with el Sayed. The Democratic Michigan Senate nominee has repeatedly faced scrutiny for his apparent ties to Piker, who, like Uygur, has been highly critical of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
On the primary campaign trail, el Sayed ripped Stevens for receiving support from AIPAC and backing aid for Israel.
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Since then, el Sayed has sought to turn down the temperature on his criticism of Israel, but the new ad appears to have reignited the feud between the two Michiganders.
The Washington Examiner reached out to el Sayed’s campaign for comment.