El-Sayed taps ex-Harris aide who said Zionists were 'controlling' US politics

Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed has named Brenda Abdelall — a former Kamala Harris Arab-American outreach director — as transition director, the New York Post reports.

Abdelall, an Egyptian-American attorney, told The New York Sun in 2002, while at an American Muslim Council convention, that "The Zionists have a strong voice in American politics" and "I would say they're controlling a lot of it," after a speaker claimed Zionists were "destroying America." She said "destroying" was harsh but still argued Israel's supporters wielded significant control over U.S. politics.

Those remarks resurfaced in August 2024 when Harris hired her for outreach. A Harris campaign spokesperson then said the 2002 comments "do not reflect Brenda's views or the views of the campaign," citing her DHS work on the Biden National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and the United We Stand summit.

El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers and has been among the most outspoken Democrats criticizing Netanyahu's Gaza campaign, describing Israel's actions as genocide and opposing U.S. military assistance to Israel. The Post said it reached El-Sayed and Harris's campaigns and did not receive an immediate response.