A new video ad supporting Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has sparked accusations of antisemitism after the ad falsely blamed Israel for high grocery prices in the US.
In the ad, a woman and her husband are shopping at the grocery store when the wife tells her husband to put the eggs back because "we have to set that $7 aside for killing Palestinians."
The husband protests that the US already gives Israel "$4 billion a year," to which the wife replies: “Yeah, and now we’re giving them another $26 billion. It’s like $161 per person. Apparently it’s costing us a lot of money to drop bombs on Gaza."
The ad was produced by Rebellion PAC, a PAC created by The Young Turks co-founder Cenk Uygur.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt slammed the ad, stating: “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."
The Dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg wrote: "I mean Cenk is dumb and a bigot. Everyone knows this. But this ad is dumb and bigoted at scale. It’s innumerate and morally obtuse and if anything remotely like it was aimed at Muslims he and his ilk would (defensibly) be outraged. But this sh- is fine when aimed at the you know who."
Uygur defend the ad from accusations of antisemitism, writing: "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."
Despite the ad's claim that eggs cost $7, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average price of a dozen eggs in the US is $2.27 and has declined by about 30 cents since January.
Throughout the election campaign, El-Sayed has faced criticism over his positions on Israel, American military assistance to the Jewish state, and his response to antisemitic violence.
In an interview with MS NOW, he described Israeli military operations as "bloodthirsty" and accused the country's leadership of committing genocide.
During a separate conversation with journalist Jim Acosta, El-Sayed acknowledged that Hamas had committed war crimes but continued to level accusations against Israel's government.
He has also opposed providing Israel with unconditional American military assistance and repeatedly avoided giving a direct answer when questioned about whether Israel has a right to exist.
In a pre-election interview, El-Sayed characterized Israel's leadership as "as evil as Hamas."
His comments following the attack on Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit which is home to a Jewish preschool, also generated controversy earlier this year.
Although El-Sayed condemned the attack and antisemitism, he described the broader circumstances by saying that “violence is a cycle" and that “hurt people hurt people."
The remarks drew criticism, prompting El-Sayed to apologize to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus in late August.
Just last week, El-Sayed argued that Israel should no longer be regarded as an American ally, accusing the Jewish state of accepting US financial assistance while involving Washington in military conflicts.
“An ally that takes your money to push you into wars you shouldn't be fighting is not an ally," he said during an interview with ABC News.
Trump has repeatedly singled out El-Sayed during campaign appearances, criticizing his views on Israel and raising allegations concerning possible family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Those allegations have largely centered on social media posts published by El-Sayed's half-sister in 2010 and 2012, in which she claimed that their birth mother had been involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt during the 1970s.