El-Sayed’s ‘Land of Their Forefathers’ Madness

The U.S. midterm elections delivered victories for many sane Democrats, including Dr. Amy Acton, who will make history as Ohio’s first Jewish governor. But the “blue tsunami” also included a wave of far-left, dangerous radicals. After taking office, Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will become the de facto leader of AZHM, the antizionist hate movement, in the U.S. Senate.

El-Sayed used his victory speech to lie about the most incendiary issue on the planet. In the new episode of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the news, I set the record straight.

“They try to call you hateful if you believe that Palestinian kids should get to grow up in the land of their forefathers without being murdered by our tax dollars,” he said. “If you believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination, that’s not hate; it’s love.” He then continued with his standard diatribe of blood libels, including “apartheid” and “genocide.”

I’ve explained previously how those libels are very easily disproved. But it’s important to drill down on the madness of El-Sayed’s “forefathers” claim. As I discussed here, Jewish people have lived in Israel continuously under different names for millennia – except the many who were slaughtered or ejected by various empires.

Among the many to do so was the Arab Islamic empire, which also ran the Indian Ocean slave trade, the largest slave trade in history. It laid the groundwork for the Transatlantic one.

The land of Israel belonged to a peoplehood, the Jews. Those who carry on that peoplehood today would accurately cite those owners as their “forefathers.” Arab Muslim people, meanwhile, align with one of the entities that stole the land. 

But let’s look at more recent history. El-Sayed’s family comes from Egypt. During the short-lived, failed “Arab Spring,” the world saw huge crowds fill Cairo’s Tahrir Square. At the time, U.S. President Barack Obama insisted the protesters just wanted democracy. He ignored warnings from Israeli experts who knew better and accurately predicted that the Muslim Brotherhood would take over. Those protests also turned out to be hellholes of mass rape.

But let’s go back further, to the mid-20th century. Some beautiful homes around the square were owned by Jewish families. What happened to them? Numerous vicious pogroms took place across Arab and Muslim nations, including in Egypt. Jews were expelled. Now, the homes these families once owned are used as ambassadors’ residences and even The Great Library of Cairo.

Across all of MENA (the Middle East and North Africa), Jewish people lost everything. Most fled to the only place they could: Israel, where they built new lives. The number of displaced Jews is far greater than the number of Arabs who lived under British-mandated Palestine and lost their homes – people who, decades later, would be rebranded as “Palestinians.”

Across the world, hundreds of millions of people lost everything in upheaval across the 20th century. Everywhere else on Earth, people built new lives in new places. The founding of India and Pakistan created the largest displacement in human history.

These things still happen. Recently, legal experts reported on “perhaps the most aggressive movement of settler populations into occupied territory in current times” – homes in Syria seized from Kurds and given away, including to Palestinians. Yes, Palestinians are occupying other people’s land and homes.

El-Sayed has no interest in anyone getting land they claim belonged to their “forefathers” – except the one group of people who blame Jews. That is, very simply, bigotry by definition.

But to his deluded supporters and ignorant masses, it sounds sensible. The media should do its job and correct these claims. Instead, billion-dollar news giants have become propaganda powerhouses helping El-Sayed and others who align with him.