Van Jones calls out El-Sayed for ‘insane’ belief that he’s ‘smarter than Barack Obama’ on Israel policy

Van Jones Criticizes Michigan Democratic Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Over Israel Stance, Calls Position "Insane"

By Maine News Now Staff

A prominent CNN commentator and former Obama administration advisor has publicly criticized a Michigan Democratic candidate for his foreign policy positions, particularly regarding Israel, describing some progressive stances on the issue as "insane" and "not acceptable."

Van Jones made the remarks during a late-August appearance on the "Ask Haviv Anything" podcast, hosted by Haviv Rettig Gur, a journalist who focuses on Israeli and Jewish affairs. The conversation centered on the historic alliance between Black and Jewish Americans and what Jones described as its recent fracturing.

Jones singled out Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Democratic Senate candidate, former public health official, and one-time CNN contributor, for his views on U.S. military aid to Israel.

"Look, some Democrats are going to say that we should condition military aid," Jones said. "That, you know, 'Israel's gone too far in Gaza and in the West Bank and in Lebanon. We're going to put some conditions on you.' I think that's a defensible position if you're a Democrat. That's not Abdul's position."

El-Sayed's actual position, according to Jones, goes further: advocating a total and complete arms embargo against Israel, including defensive weapons systems. Jones characterized this stance as extreme.

"I can get why you would say, 'No more aid, they got to pay their own way,'" Jones said. "That's not Abdul's position. Abdul's position is a total and complete arms embargo against the state of Israel, including defensive weapons. That's an insane position."

Jones went on to elaborate on why he finds the position objectionable, invoking the Iron Dome missile defense system that was developed with significant U.S. support during the Obama administration.

"That says, if Israel wants to pay for interceptors to stop a rocket coming from Iran or coming from Hezbollah or coming from Hamas, an interceptor, we should deny them the right to buy the interceptors to knock down rockets going at Israeli children, women, men, babies. That's an insane position," Jones said.

Jones also questioned whether El-Sayed believed his foreign policy judgment exceeded that of the former president.

"And by the way, it offends me because that's, you know, Barack Obama was a part of creating that Iron Dome," he continued. "Barack Obama was a part of creating those interceptors. Barack Obama thought that the Israeli people were in such a tough neighborhood, they needed to be able to knock down rockets. So you're telling me you're smarter than Barack Obama? You have better ideas about foreign policy than Barack Obama?"

Jones closed his remarks with a broader concern about the state of Democratic Party debate on the issue.

"The fact that people are having a hard time figuring out what to do about it, I find alarming," Jones said. "This is not acceptable."

The criticism from Jones comes amid broader controversies surrounding El-Sayed's campaign. In addition to his foreign policy positions, El-Sayed has drawn attention for his relationship with Hasan Piker, a prominent left-wing political streamer who has been a surrogate for the campaign. El-Sayed has also been repeatedly confronted on the campaign trail over questions about Israel's right to exist and his past positions on policing.

Several political commentators echoed Jones's concerns, while offering their own interpretations of what El-Sayed's candidacy represents.

Julian Epstein, a Democratic consultant and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, expressed agreement with Jones. "To my mind, El Sayed is clearly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood propaganda machine that gives a pass to the butchering of millions of Arabs by extremist Islamist overlords in the Middle East while slandering Israel with lies like 'apartheid' and 'genocide' to justify the exterminationist and racist ideology that has always driven this conflict," Epstein said.

Theo Wold, who served as an assistant attorney general and as a White House deputy assistant for domestic policy under President Donald Trump, framed El-Sayed as part of a broader generational shift in Democratic politics.

"Abdul El-Sayed is not a one-off," Wold said. "He's the avatar of the rising generation of Third World immigrants who were resettled in the United States over the last thirty years." He added that El-Sayed's "foreign policy is more 'global south' than it is American" and that his "messaging is so radically foreign to American ears because it's just that: radical and foreign."

Jesse Arm, a vice president and pollster at the Manhattan Institute who was born in Michigan, credited Jones for taking a clear position and argued that the controversy reflects tensions within the Democratic coalition.

"Jones's frustration reflects a larger struggle within the Democratic Party," Arm said. "Reasonable liberals like him, especially those rooted in the African American community, recognize that they are losing control of a party they helped build. As the Democratic coalition becomes Whiter, richer, and more ideologically extreme, the preferences of most Black voters are increasingly subordinated to those of the party's new activist base."

Arm pointed to El-Sayed's performance in Michigan's Democratic primary as evidence of this dynamic, noting that El-Sayed "got crushed with African Americans in Michigan's Democratic primary, losing three-quarters of the Black vote to his more mainstream opponent."

El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding Jones's statements.