Van Jones calls Michigan candidate El-Sayed’s Israel policy ‘insane’
CNN host Van Jones criticized Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s call for a total arms embargo against Israel, saying the position is ‘insane’ and questioning whether El-Sayed believes he is ‘smarter than Barack Obama’ on foreign policy.
CNN host and former Obama administration adviser Van Jones has sharply criticized Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over his stance on Israel, calling the candidate’s call for a total arms embargo against the Jewish state an «insane» position that would leave Israeli civilians defenseless against rocket attacks.
Speaking on the «Ask Haviv Anything» podcast in late August, Jones addressed the recent fracture in the long-standing alliance between Black and Jewish Americans and singled out El-Sayed, a former CNN commentator and vocal Israel critic, as an example of what he described as «dangerous» beliefs held by some progressive figures in the Democratic Party.
«His positions on Israel and foreign policy are insane,» Jones said, according to a transcript of the podcast. He acknowledged that some Democrats hold a «defensible» view that military aid to Israel should be conditioned on its conduct in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. But he said El-Sayed goes much further.
«I can get why you would say, ‘No more aid, they got to pay their own way.’ That’s not Abdul’s position. Abdul’s position is a total and complete arms embargo against the state of Israel, including defensive weapons. That’s an insane position,» Jones said.
Jones argued that such a policy would prevent Israel from purchasing interceptors to stop rockets fired by Iran, Hezbollah, or Hamas. «That says, if Israel wants to pay for interceptors to stop a rocket coming from Iran or coming from Hezbollah or coming from Hamas, an interceptor, we should deny them the right to buy the interceptors to knock down rockets going at Israeli children, women, men, babies. That’s an insane position,» he said.
Jones then questioned whether El-Sayed believes he knows better than former President Barack Obama, who helped create the Iron Dome missile defense system. «Barack Obama was a part of creating that Iron Dome. Barack Obama was a part of creating those interceptors. Barack Obama thought that the Israeli people were in such a tough neighborhood, they needed to be able to knock down rockets,» Jones recalled. «So you’re telling me you’re smarter than Barack Obama? You have better ideas about foreign policy than Barack Obama? And you want to de-plug and defund and take away Israel’s — half the world’s Jews’ — ability to defend themselves? That’s an insane position.»
Jones added that he finds it «alarming» that some Democrats are struggling to respond to such views. «This is not acceptable,» he said.
El-Sayed, who lost Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August, has been embroiled in controversy over his Israel stance and his association with left-wing livestreamer Hasan Piker, who has served as a campaign surrogate. Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.
Democratic consultant Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, agreed with Jones’s assessment. «Bless Van Jones’ heart, I agree with him,» Epstein told Fox News Digital. He argued that El-Sayed is «clearly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood propaganda machine» and accused him of slandering Israel with terms like «apartheid» and «genocide.»
Theo Wold, a former assistant attorney general and White House deputy assistant for domestic policy under President Donald Trump, described El-Sayed as «the avatar of the rising generation of Third World immigrants» who hold radical views. «His messaging is so radically foreign to American ears because it’s just that: radical and foreign,» Wold said.
Jesse Arm, a Manhattan Institute vice president and pollster born in Michigan, credited Jones for «drawing a clear and principled line» on the issue. Arm argued that Black Democrats are losing influence within a party that is becoming «Whiter, richer, and more ideologically extreme.» He noted that El-Sayed lost three-quarters of the Black vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary to his more mainstream opponent.
