Vice President Kamala Harris' newly appointed Arab American spokesperson once claimed that “Zionists” “control much of American politics.”
Harris' campaign announced this week that it had appointed Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Brenda Abdelal to oversee the vice president's efforts to shore up support among Arab American voters in the final months of the election.
But comments Abdelal made at the university in 2002 resurfaced on Thursday. The report states: From the Washington Free Beacon.
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Brenda Abdelal, deputy secretary of homeland security, has been tapped by the Harris campaign to lead outreach to Arab Americans ahead of the November election. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Zachary Hupp)
Abdell, then a student of political science and Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, had been asked by the New York Sun to comment on controversial comments made by a speaker at the Muslim Council of America conference: Wake Forest University professor emeritus Jamil Fayez, who had said, “Zionists are destroying America.”
“'Disrupt' is a strong word,” Abdelal told the New York Sun. “Zionists have a strong voice in American politics. I would say they control a lot of things.”
According to a 2002 New York Sun report, Abdelal pointed to the primary election defeat of Alabama Democratic Congressman Earl Hilliard, who had come under attack from Jewish groups for voting against a House resolution condemning Palestinian suicide bombings, and suggested the defeat demonstrated “Jewish influence in politics.”
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“Zionists have a strong voice in American politics,” Abdelal said in 2002, adding that “they control a lot of things.” (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Harris campaign defended Abdelal on Friday, telling Fox News Digital, “In her role at Homeland Security, Brenda worked closely to implement the nation's first national strategy to combat anti-Semitism and led the inaugural 'United We Stand' summit, a White House-sponsored event to combat hate-fueled violence such as tragically seen in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. Her 2002 comments do not reflect her views or those of the campaign.”
Both Harris and Biden, who is due to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, have struggled to garner support from Arab American voters who have expressed anger over their administration's response to Israel's war with Hamas after the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
Harris regularly sends anti-Israel firebrands to the Democratic National Convention and seeks to resolve the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Vice President Kamala Harris is hoping to solidify support among Arab American voters in key battleground states like Michigan. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
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Biden and Harris have been repeatedly heckled on the campaign trail, with some calling them “Genocide Joe” and “Killer Kamala” for providing military aid to Israel as the death toll in Gaza rises.
More than 100,000 voters in Michigan, a key battleground state with a large Arab-American population, voted “independent” in protest against Biden in the Democratic primary, and Harris is hoping to win their support ahead of November.
