Abdul El-Sayed fundraised earlier this month alongside a former New York City public school principal who resigned for defending the use of the term "intifada" as a t-shirt slogan, and, over the summer, with a Muslim activist who led the Gaza flotilla movement and who has described Thanksgiving as a "national day of mourning."
An invitation from the Abdul for Michigan Victory Fund to the $3,500-a-head Manhattan fundraiser held on Oct. 5 shows that, among others, the event was hosted by Dr. Debbie Almontaser, who resigned her position as principal of the first New York City public school devoted to the study of Arabic language and culture in 2007 after defending the use of the term "intifada" as an appropriate slogan to emblazon a t-shirt.
Almontaser jumped into the fray to defend a t-shirt produced by a separate organization, Arab Women Active in Arts & Media, that read "Intifada NYC."
"The word basically means ‘shaking off,’" Almontaser told the New York Post at the time. "That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic," adding, "I think it’s pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society and shaking off oppression." Following a complaint filed by Almontaser, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission subsequently found the New York City Department of Education guilty of bias when it forced her resignation, though the decision was nonbinding.
Politico reported on the Oct. 5 fundraiser, which New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani attended, but omitted any mention of the controversy surrounding Almontaser.
The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier in the summer, on July 11, El-Sayed attended a fundraiser in Chesterfield, Mich., hosted by the Palestinian activist Huwaida Araf, the co-founder of the Free Gaza movement, which launched several "sea voyages" to challenge what she describes as Israel’s "illegal blockade."
On social media, Araf has referred to Thanksiging as a "national day of mourning" and to former president Joe Biden as "Genocide Joe." As recently as August, Araf has called for the "criminal prosecution" of U.S. leaders by the International Criminal Court for "crimes against humanity and participation in genocide," though it is not clear to which leaders she was referring.
Araf was aboard the 2010 Gaza flotilla that was raided by the Israeli Navy after six ships tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
"At approximately midnight, the Israeli navy started radioing us, asking for information, which we supplied to them, as to who we are, what flag we were flying under, where we came from, where we were going," Araf told Democracy Now! in a 2010 interview. "Then they started issuing threats against us, demanding that we turn around and saying that they would be willing to use all necessary force in order to enforce the blockade on Gaza. To this, we replied that the blockade is illegal, and we are unarmed civilians, we are carrying only humanitarian aid, and therefore they would not be justified in using force against us."
