Democrats urged to ‘disavow’ Hasan Piker
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed faces scrutiny over his campaign’s ties to far-left streamer Hasan Piker. Piker’s highly controversial remarks about U.S. Jews prompt prominent Democrats to warn colleagues to distance themselves. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer joins ‘America Reports’ to analyze the fallout and the growing antisemitism concerns on the far-left.
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Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shares nearly two dozen donors with former Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian, whose campaign included antisemitic attacks against Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla.
El-Sayed and Bilzerian are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but both have criticized U.S. support for Israel and called on the United States to cease all aid to the Jewish state.
Bilzerian has supported the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, while El-Sayed has called for abolishing ICE. Bilzerian has called for lower taxes and less regulation, while El-Sayed has called for higher taxes on the wealthy and Medicare for All.
The two candidates’ shared donors have contributed more than $61,000 to their campaigns, according to a Fox News Digital review of FEC filings for both campaigns. The shared donors gave $23,144.12 to Bilzerian’s campaign and approximately $38,626.20 to El-Sayed’s campaign.
EL-SAYED CAMPAIGN BACKED BY OVER $100,000 FROM DOZENS OF MEMBERS OF GROUP WITH ALLEGED TERROR TIES
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, speaks to the press with Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., at a campaign rally at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Aug. 26, 2026. Separately, Dan Bilzerian visits India to announce his association with sports predictor LivePools and the launch of his male grooming brand, Alister, on Sept. 13, 2019, in Mumbai, India. (Katie McTiernan / Anadolu via Getty Images; Prodip Guha / Getty Images)
Bilzerian lost to Fine in the primary, and his campaign tactics and advertisements drew sharp criticism from Republican leaders. His attacks against Fine, who is Jewish, included a 2½-minute AI-generated campaign ad calling Fine a “.fat Jew” as well as other antisemitic remarks.
“Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today,” Bilzerian told Fox News Digital in response to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, El-Sayed, who has routinely accused Israel of committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people, has drawn criticism for his associations with social media influencer Hasan Piker, who said the terrorist group Hamas was “a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state,” referring to Israel.
Donors to both El-Sayed and Bilzerian include prominent critics of Israel, such as Georgia attorney Ibrahim Awad of Awad Law Firm. He contributed $12,651.88 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian’s campaign on April 25, 2026. It is unclear how much of that contribution was attributed to Awad. Fox News Digital reached out to Awad for comment.
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A little more than a month earlier, Awad donated $7,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign.
Awad, whose mother was born in Gaza, has been a vocal critic of Israel and has accused the Jewish state of committing a Holocaust in Gaza that may be worse than the Holocaust during World War II.
“It’s a Holocaust,” Awad shared during an appearance on the Sumud Podcast hosted by Dr. Ed Hasan. “Like, it’s present day. There are so many ways that it’s even worse than [the] World War II Holocaust because it’s happening in real time right in front of us.”
Awad appeared on the podcast in August 2025, where he decried Zionism as a “toxic way of thinking.”
“That’s the poisonous sin, right? The toxicity of Zionism,” Awad said. “It’s all rooted in this supremacy. Racism is rooted in this supremacy. Slavery is rooted in this supremacy.”
He said he distinguishes Judaism from Zionism but argued that Palestinians should not be responsible for explaining that distinction.
U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and embraced comparisons between he and Zohran Mamdani. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
MICHIGAN SENATE RACE: EL-SAYED’S TIES TO EXTREMIST FUEL ANTISEMITISM CONCERNS AMONG JEWISH VOTERS
“The onus is on the oppressor,” Awad said. “I mean, about whether you’re coming in and you’re saying, ‘Hey, Israel is a Jewish state,’ and that same Jewish state is coming in and spray-painting the walls with the Star of David, and then I have to now, as the victim whose home was stolen, say, ‘Oh no, it’s not that you’re a bad Jew. It’s that you’re just a Zionist settler.’
“Nonetheless, we take the high ground and we distinguish, and we say, ‘No, this is Zionism, right? This is Jewish supremacy. That is antithetical to Judaism, right? But that’s what it is,'” Awad continued.
Awad also rejected the characterization of the Palestinian resistance as “terrorism.”
Meanwhile, Hussein ‘Sam’ Mahrouq, a Texas resident and owner of Enterprises International, which is the parent company of AutoMax and Dollar Rent-A-Car, donated $3,500 to El-Sayed’s campaign from May 2025 to April 2026
He also contributed more than $1,000 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian. Mahrouq has donated to other candidates critical of Israel, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
He also donated $400,000 to American Priorities PAC, which was created this year to counter the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the New York Post reported.
Mahrouq shared during an appearance on the podcast Bigger than Business that he is the child of Palestinian refugees.
Poker player Dan Bilzerian attends qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway on April 24, 2015 in Richmond, Virginia.
In a statement, Mahrouq did not directly answer Fox News Digital’s question about whether El-Sayed and Bilzerian’s stances on Israel factored into his decision to donate.
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“I have made contributions and donations to many different candidates, organizations, community initiatives and charitable projects over the years,” Mahrouq said. “A contribution should not be interpreted as an endorsement of every position taken by a candidate or organization.”
Muhi Khwaja, co-founder of the American Muslim Community Foundation, donated $625 to El-Sayed’s campaign and $26.68 to Bilzerian’s campaign.
Khwaja described a visit to Gaza in a November 2023 essay and advocated for building support for Palestinians beyond the Arab world.
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“The Israel-Hamas war has made one thing clear: The philanthropic world can no longer turn a blind eye to the collective punishment facing Palestinians,” Khwaja wrote. “As a student of philanthropy, I believe in the love of humankind. As a Muslim, I believe in compassion for all. My Jewish friends and colleagues believe in Tikkun olam — repairing the world. But Israel’s actions in Gaza are doing the opposite.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign and Khwaja for comment. Awad was also contacted for comment.