[ August 4, 2026 ]
They don’t even bother to pretend anymore or couch their words.
Extremist Michigan Imam Urges Followers To Turn Out for Abdul El-Sayed: ‘Deal the Zionist a Blow’
By: Eliana Johnson, Washington Free Beacon, August 4, 2026:
ADVERTISEMENTIt’s primary day in Michigan, and left-wing insurgent Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate bid is getting a last-minute boost from a radical imam whom even Bernie Sanders has accused of “spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories.” The imam, Hassan Qazwini of Dearborn Heights, urged his congregants to “deal the Zionist a bigger blow” by turning out to vote for El-Sayed, the Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross reports. In a July 24 sermon, he called El-Sayed’s opponent, congresswoman Haley Stevens, a “puppet” of Israel and invoked tropes about Jewish influence and money, saying U.S. lawmakers support the Jewish state because “the pro-Israeli lobby” is “a cash cow.” He also framed a vote for El-Sayed as a “moral responsibility” and a “religious duty.”
“Beware of the plot being schemed by the pro-Israeli lobby for you. They don’t care about you, Michiganders,” Qazwini said. “The way to deal the Zionist a bigger blow is to go and cast your vote on Tuesday, and don’t allow the Zionist candidate to win,” he said a week later. “You have to choose between people, clean people, who are running to serve your community, your state, and people who are there to serve the interest of Israel.”
Qazwini formally endorsed El-Sayed last week, and the support is mutual. El-Sayed headlined the grand opening of Qazwini’s Islamic Institute of America on June 6, offering “hearty congratulations” to Qazwini and praising his “incredible masjid,” a 67,000-square-foot facility that features five golden domes. But Sanders, one of El-Sayed’s top supporters, has sparred with Qazwini in the past, denouncing his “antisemitic conspiracy theories” and “toxic” comments in 2020 after Qazwini claimed that Israel funds ISIS, that the terrorist group was “playing the role of the arm of the Zionist in the Muslim world,” and that Sanders was an honorable man “even though he is a Jew.” In 2024, Qazwini said U.S. lawmakers who supported the antisemitism awareness act should be “indicted and convicted of treason.”
“While Qazwini’s support could help El-Sayed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, the backing from an extremist cleric could prove a liability for El-Sayed in the general election,” writes Ross. “Republicans have cast El-Sayed as ‘radical’ and are certain to highlight his connections to anti-Israel clerics and activists. El-Sayed has campaigned with the far left-influencer Hasan Piker, who said that ‘America deserved 9/11,’ and with New Jersey House candidate Adam Hamawy, who testified on behalf of the ‘Blind Sheikh,’ the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”
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