ON the Sunday before Election Day in the US, the Democratic leadership was in uproar. The reason was Israel — though not obviously so. The action took place in Detroit, Michigan, where Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed was in a close race against Republican Mike Rogers. Rogers had run a campaign marked by Islamo­phobic attacks on El-Sayed’s Muslim faith, portraying him as a security threat and making unfounded allegations of extremist sympathies. In the primary election that decided the Democratic nominee, El-Sayed had defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who had said she “dreamed of Israel” and had benefited from nearly $30 million in spending by pro-Israel lobbies. Despite this, El-Sayed was able to win.

Stevens decided that Sunday morning that she would endorse El-Sayed’s opponent, a man she had previously criticised. It was an extraordinary move that drew condemnation from her fellow Democrats and the American left. Appearing at an African-American church alongside Rogers, Stevens said that she just couldn’t support El-Sayed and would, instead, back the Republican.

For the 48 hours until the election, Stevens got tons of attention. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she struggled to explain why........

© Dawn