Martha MacCallum Presses Abdul El-Sayed on the Iran War and Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designations
Martha MacCallum: When you say we need to understand the people who commit terrorist attacks and what causes them, it almost sounds like you’re suggesting that, somehow, these terrible acts are our fault.
Abdul El-Sayed: No. The victim is never at fault. Terrorism is wrong, no matter who commits it or who it’s committed against.
But we have to ask ourselves: when we engage with the world, are we creating a safer world or a less safe one? Does more war actually make us safer?
Martha MacCallum: Iran created a huge threat to the region. They killed thousands of Americans.
Abdul El-Sayed: The nuclear threat had been contained under the Obama administration. Then Donald Trump tore up that agreement and, in his second administration, created a war that people in Michigan are now paying for through higher grocery bills, gas prices, and taxes.
Martha MacCallum: The agreement was being violated by Iran, according to many estimates.
Abdul El-Sayed: Estimates people cherry-pick. We could have chosen peace, but instead we chose war. Now, the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted, energy prices have risen, and people don’t know what they’ll pay tomorrow. More war has made us less safe.
Martha MacCallum: That’s not entirely true. Reports suggest oil flows through the Strait are approaching pre-war levels, and prices could begin to come down.
Abdul El-Sayed: Then why are gas prices still so high? That’s not what people in Michigan are experiencing.
And it’s not just gas prices. It’s grocery prices, the 18 service members who lost their lives, and service members deployed at sea without the resources or rations they needed.
Martha MacCallum: Our service members are heroes, and they’re protecting us from threats. Let me ask you about the Muslim Brotherhood. If you become a US senator, will you support the terrorist designations of its branches in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan?
Abdul El-Sayed: I support designating any organisation as terrorist if it’s engaged in political violence.
Martha MacCallum: The Egyptian chapter called for violent attacks against the United States and its partners after October 7.
The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood supported Hamas and threatened Americans in the region. Do you stand by those designations?
Abdul El-Sayed: As I’ve said, any organisation engaged in or calling for political violence is engaging in terrorism, and I would support those designations. But there’s an argument you often make that the best way to address this problem is simply more war.