Abdul El-Sayed, Rep Ro Khanna, and Michigan lieutenant governor Garlin Gilchrist are all slated to appear at ArabCon
A trio of rising Democratic Party stars are slated to speak at an anti-Israel convention this week alongside a deep roster of Hamas sympathizers and anti-Semites.
Michigan Senate candidate and former CNN contributor Abdul El-Sayed (D.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), and Michigan lieutenant governor Garlin Gilchrist (D.) are listed in the lineup for ArabCon, an event hosted by the American-Arab Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Dearborn, Mich., a majority-Muslim town dubbed “America’s Jihad Capital” because so many of its city and religious leaders have sided with Hamas against the United States and Israel.
All three of the Democrats are running—or likely running, in Khanna’s case—for prominent political offices. El-Sayed is running for Michigan’s open Senate seat, Khanna reportedly plans to run for president in 2028, and Gilchrist is running for Michigan governor. ArabCon, which boasts it brings together “America’s most revolutionary voices,” provides a significant platform for the politicians to reach Michigan’s Muslim and Arab voters, a massive voting bloc that skews heavily toward Democrats.
El-Sayed, who ran unsuccessfully for Michigan governor in 2018, will speak at a “Meet the Candidate” session on Saturday, Gilchrist will headline the ADC’s gala dinner, and Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in Congress, will appear with left-wing political commentator Cenk Uygur for a discussion about Israel’s “genocide in Gaza.”
Numerous other speakers at the event have promoted anti-Semitic hate, support anti-Israel terrorist groups, and praised Hamas leaders.
One speaker is Rabab Abdulhadi, a San Francisco professor who has organized multiple events with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Abdulhadi, who has blamed the “Jewish caucus” for attempting to cancel those events, said the Hamas operatives who attacked Israel on Oct. 7 were “merely defending themselves.” Another conference speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mosab Abu Toha, has criticized the media’s “humanization” of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
There is Lara Sheehi, a former George Washington University professor who called Hamas terrorists “martyrs” and praised them as “armed resistance” against Israel. Zahra Billoo, a Council of American-Islamic Relations official speaking at the conference on Saturday, was kicked off the 2017 Women’s March board because of her history of anti-Semitic statements. Billoo mourned the death of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, saying “his martyrdom is not in vain,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Amer Zahr, who will moderate an ArabCon panel on Friday, said at a Dearborn rally in 2017, “We stand with everybody who stands against the Israeli occupation—whether it’s called Hamas, whether it’s called Hezbollah.” Zahr once urged activists who are “condemning anti-Semitism and condemning terrorism” to “stop it!” the Free Beacon reported.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student who was ordered to be deported from the United States over his pro-Hamas campus activism, will speak at ArabCon on Saturday. Speaking on Sunday is Anthony Aguilar, the former Green Beret who claimed he witnessed the Israel Defense Forces murder a Palestinian boy at a food distribution center operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But Aguilar, who ArabCon touts as a “Whistleblower,” fabricated the story. The boy he claims was murdered by Israeli soldiers was recently found alive and healthy.
Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D.) will kick off ArabCon Thursday night, according to the conference schedule. It comes after Hammoud went viral earlier this month for berating a Dearborn resident after he voiced concerns at a public city council meeting that a Dearborn street was being named after Osama Siblani, an Arab-American activist who has praised Hamas and called a leader of Hezbollah a “hero.”
Hammoud told the constituent, a Christian pastor, he was a “racist” and an “Islamophobe,” and he was “not welcome” in Dearborn.
El-Sayed, a friend and ally of Hammoud’s, has not responded to the controversy. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“I have never been to a conference where I agree with every speaker, but speaking at ArabCon is important,” Khanna told the Free Beacon. “I will discuss my efforts to recognize a Palestinian state without Hamas as part of a two state solution. Recognition of Palestinian statehood— alongside continued efforts to secure Israel’s safety and guarantee its future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people—is essential to achieving peace.”
Khanna has sought to distance himself from previous events he attended in Dearborn with controversial speakers. Khanna appeared at a gala last year with Zahr. Asked about Zahr at the time, a Khanna spokeswoman told the Free Beacon Khanna “was not aware of comments made by other individuals” in attendance at the event, and they “do not reflect his own position.”
Gilchrist’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
