On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN NewsNight,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama administration official Van Jones said that Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed needs to denounce an ad that blamed Israel for high prices because it makes the dangerous move of telling people “because of the Jewish state, that’s why you’re suffering.” Jones also said El-Sayed blaming spending on Israel for the condition of U.S. schools is “nuts.”
CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush Scott Jennings referenced El-Sayed saying that hurt people hurt people in response to the Temple Israel attack and refusing to say Iran is a bigger threat than Israel. Jones then said, “Listen, the things that he said that Scott pointed out were terrible things to say, and he shouldn’t have said them. But to say that he has not distanced himself from the Muslim Brotherhood is just not accurate. … [W]hen you have the president of the United States saying he’s going to open up the borders and let in jihadists, that is a lie, and it is a lie based on bigotry. It’s a lie based on scaring people about him being a Muslim. He’s never said anything about opening the borders for jihadists. He’s said dumb things about foreign policy, but not about that.”
Jones added that he “didn’t like” when El-Sayed wouldn’t condemn the ayatollah.
After the discussion turned to the ad, Jones stated, “This is a very dangerous ad. Because what it does is it suggests that the reason that people can’t pay for things in the grocery store…is because of — the United States is giving all of this money to Israel. We give a very small amount of money to Israel compared to all of the other foreign assistance that we do, but you’re picking out the Jewish state, and you’re pointing to the Jewish state, and of all the — we spend money in Qatar, we spend money all around the world, but you’re going to say that, because of the Jewish state, that’s why you’re suffering. Listen, when that happens, when you start getting people riled up — and you’ve seen this all through the last century — against Jews and blaming Jews for all your problems, you’re headed down a dark pathway. I have spoken aggressively against the anti-Muslim hate in this campaign. This is an example of anti-Jewish hate, and it should be taken down immediately and denounced. And by the way, Abdul should denounce this ad immediately.”
Guest host Michael Smerconish then stated, “His campaign has distanced itself from it.”
Jones countered, “They’ve distanced. They haven’t denounced.”
Later, Jennings said, “El-Sayed, himself, in this campaign, has argued we can’t have good education in this country because we fund the Iron Dome.”
Jones replied, “Which is nuts.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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