Gavin Newsom puts party over principles backing Abdul El-Sayed

Gavin Newsom’s decision to endorse and campaign for radical left-wing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is a betrayal of California voters and of the liberal principles he claims to uphold.

El-Sayed is a slick operator who used the enthusiasm of the left-wing base to eke out a primary win against Representative Haley Stevens in the race for US Senate in Michigan.

Gavin Newsom’s decision to endorse and campaign for radical left-wing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is a betrayal of California voters and of the liberal principles he claims to uphold. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The “progressive” El-Sayed owns homes on three continents, yet poses as the champion of the working class, making socialist promises like “Medicare for All” — which, as Newsom knows, failed in California because the cost of paying for illegal immigrants was unsustainable.

But the real problem with El-Sayed is that he empathizes with terrorists, and harbors a hatred for Jews that he cannot hide. 

Earlier this year, when an Islamic terrorist attacked a synagogue near Detroit, with dozens of schoolchildren inside, El-Sayed condemned the attack — but then tried to justify it.

He blamed the attack on the fact that the attacker “lost family … in an airstrike on Lebanon” the week before. And who was his “family”? A commander in Hezbollah, the terror group that fires rockets at Israeli civilians.

El-Sayed also campaigned with extremist podcaster Hasan Piker, who said the US “deserved 9/11,” and said he preferred terrorist Hamas to democratic Israel. Piker likes to point out that he has apologized for the first statement. He has never apologized for the second.

El-Sayed cannot bring himself to say that Israel has a right to exist. And after he won the primary, he called Israel “bloodthirsty” — a slanderous accusation against a free people who have been fighting a defensive war they did not start.

Newsom has embraced a candidate who would violate AB 715 if he taught what he believes in the state of California. Anadolu via Getty Images

In fact, El-Sayed opposes funding for Iron Dome — a defensive weapon that keeps Hamas rockets from hitting Israeli civilians and has, in years past, helped Israel avoid going to war.

Of course, El-Sayed says that he loves Jews — just not Israel, or AIPAC. But half the world’s Jews live in Israel, and Israel is the geographic center of the Jewish faith, as Mecca is for Muslims. It cannot be that the only “good” Jews are those who reject a key part of their faith.

Israel is hardly the most pressing issue facing voters. But El-Sayed’s positions matter, because the Senate has significant power over foreign policy. They also matter because if we allow antisemites into positions of power, we are marking the decline of our society as a whole.

Newsom knows better. Last year, he signed AB 715, which cracks down on antisemitism in California schools, including the “vilification of Jews and Israelis.” Now Newsom has embraced a candidate who would violate that law if he taught what he believes in the state of California.

The governor is pandering to potential presidential primary voters. It is blatant, it is obvious and it is pathetic. 

Newsom is putting party ahead of principle. A true leader would denounce El-Sayed, not campaign with him.

When this ends in defeat — as polls suggest it might — Newsom must share the blame.

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