Future first Muslim senator El-Sayed backs ending US military aid to Israel

Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed said Donald Trump is “right” to end military aid to Israel and called for an end to US arms sales to Israel and a review of military support for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan.

Abdul El-Sayed, who will become the first Muslim member of the US Senate, backed President Donald Trump’s plan to end roughly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel. “I think the president is actually right in this policy,” he said in an interview with NPR, adding that he would also like to see an end to arms sales to Israel that are used “for the most horrible things.”

Appearing on the Morning Joe program on MS NOW on Thursday, El-Sayed said he did not believe it was right to “continue subsidizing a foreign military that has done the most horrible things with our money.” He also proposed reviewing military support for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan and spending taxpayers’ money domestically.

Trump said Tuesday that several months ago he had agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the aid by December and that the initiative had come from Netanyahu himself. According to Trump, Israel would still be able to purchase US weapons. The current agreement provides $3.8 billion in annual aid through fiscal year 2028.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in 2025 (archive)

El-Sayed’s position on Israel was one of the main themes of his campaign against Republican Mike Rogers. In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, he said he supported “equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Israeli Jews.”