Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s recent campaign event with streamer Hasan Piker has led to a firestorm of media coverage and brought the Democratic Party’s internal divide on continued support for Israel into full view.

El-Sayed is currently locked in a contentious primary with Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. Polling data has consistently shown Stevens in the lead to win the party nod and face expected GOP nominee Mike Rogers in the contest to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Nevertheless, El-Sayed is hot on the heels of his opponents and his latest campaign event at the University of Michigan has him in the driver’s seat, at least in terms of media attention. Piker campaigned with El-Sayed on Tuesday evening, leading Stevens to highlight some of the streamer’s more contentious opinions, CBS News reported. The streamer maintains a multi-million follower channel on Twitch and has weathered a litany of controversies, including a recent episode in which he faced unproven allegations that he used a shock collar on his dog while on-stream. The incident has since led to a series of memes. More recently, he joined a trip to Cuba bringing humanitarian aid amid an infrastructure crisis.

That trip — called The Nuestra América Convoy — included a broad array of participants, largely sponsored by self-proclaimed communist Neville Singham and the U.S.-based group Code Pink.

Blames Israeli "genocide" for the Oct. 7, 2023, rape and murder attack by Hamas

Piker’s appearance in the campaign has highlighted the growing divide within the Democratic Party on U.S.-Israel relations. Piker is a vocal critic of Israel, has deemed its actions in Gaza a “genocide,” and suggested that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas raid was the result of Israel’s actions in the region.

When confronted with Piker’s past comments, El-Sayed dismissed the issue, saying, “I’m not here to disavow people’s views. This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture — I thought we were over it,” Politico reported.

El-Sayed, like Piker, is a critic of Israel and said he will not accept funds from AIPAC, which supports candidates on both sides of the aisle with the aim of fostering support for Israel in U.S. politics. McMorrow has espoused similar views and positions, according to Michigan Advance. 

Stevens, for her part, has accepted the group’s financial support. Track AIPAC, a left-wing watchdog that documents the group’s financial support to politicians, asserts that Stevens has received a total of more $9 million in support from AIPAC or other pro-Israel groups over her political career.

Though Stevens leads the race, she is far behind the combined total of the Israel-skeptic candidates and appears part of a dwindling minority of Democrats willing to associate with the country. American public opinion on Israel has fallen dramatically in recent years. 

U.S. views on Israel have trended negative

A Pew Research survey published this week found that just 37% of U.S. adults have a very/somewhat favorable view of the country, while 60% had a very/somewhat negative view. In 2022, those figures were 55% favorable vs. 42% unfavorable. Among Democrats, the shift was more stark. 80% of Democrats overall have a very/somewhat negative view of the country. Conducted March 23-27, the survey questioned 3,507 U.S. adults.

Though a majority of incumbent Democrats support maintaining the current state of U.S.-Israeli relations, the issue is increasingly a point of contention in party primaries. In Illinois, for instance, a March House primary saw progressives Kat Abughazaleh and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss compete with the AIPAC-supported Laura Fine. Biss emerged triumphant, with Abughazaleh placing second and Fine a distant third.

On the Republican side, the matter of Israel is more evenly divided, with 58% of the GOP expressing a very/somewhat favorable view of the country and 41% expressing a very/somewhat negative view in the same Pew Research survey. AIPAC, specifically, has become a point of scrutiny for proponents of non-intervention and its influence has become a focal point for Rep. Thomas Massie’s, R-Ky., reelection bid. 

Massie is facing the Trump-backed Ed Gallrein in a Republican primary. A recent Big Data Poll found Massie with 52% to Gallrein’s 47%, once the survey asked undecided respondents to choose between the two. Conducted April 3–7, the survey questioned 433 likely Republican primary voters in the 4th Congressional District.

Track AIPAC reports that Gallrein has received $6.7 million from AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups. Massie has received none, according to the organization. Massie has been a vocal critic of U.S. support for Israel, especially its financial support amid the fighting in Gaza. The primary is set for May 19.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.