El-Sayed: 'Dumb' to Ask if I Think Iran's a Bigger Threat Than Israel, 'Our Job' Is to Use Diplomacy

During a portion of an interview that took place on Tuesday and was released on Wednesday, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed refused to say if he thinks Israel is a bigger threat to the U.S. than Iran and said that “our job is to address our issues diplomatically.” He also stated that the question is “a dumb question.” “On Balance” host Leland Vittert asked, “One of your supporters we interviewed seemed to think that Iran was a bigger threat — Israel — seemed to think Israel was a bigger threat than Iran to the United States. Do you agree?” El-Sayed responded, “Well, look, at the end of the day, our job is to address our issues diplomatically. But, right now, we are in the war in Iran, in part, because of the advocacy of the Israeli prime minister. There’s no disagreement on that. He came to the Situation Room and advocated for the war. And we’re now paying, what? $1,600 for it. Our gas, our groceries are unaffordable. And that’s on top of the billions in tax dollars that we spend sending our money over there. Now, how we think about a threat, that’s –.” Vittert then cut in to press, “You’re going to be a senator, what do you view as the biggest threat?” El-Sayed responded, “I’ve been more than extremely clear about this. I don’t want our tax dollars being used to subsidize war abroad. I don’t want our tax dollars being used to fund, unconditionally, foreign militaries. I think it’s important that we be the first among equals to enforce international law against any and every country that breaks it. So, this sort of, like, hypothetical, who’s a bigger threat is a dumb question.” El-Sayed added that “the big question is…what is the public policy we really want?” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett