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Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, is scheduled to appear at the Arab America Foundation’s CONNECT Empowerment Summit on November 6–7 in Chantilly, Virginia. The program also includes Chicago educator Fadi Abughoush, who praised slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Instagram with the words “Rest well King,” as reported by the Free Beacon.
The Arab America Foundation lists Qatar-based businessman Hussam Abu Issa as a board member. He was also listed as a member of Al-Balagh Cultural Association’s founding board alongside Yusuf al-Qaradawi in rules approved in 1998. Qaradawi was widely described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and endorsed Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis.
According to the summit’s schedule, El-Sayed is a guest during Friday’s cultural evening at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles. Abughoush appears earlier that day on the education panel “We are All Educators: Changing Hearts, Changing Minds, One Conversation at a Time.” The two are listed for separate sessions.
Summit Speaker Who Eulogized Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar
Fadi Abughoush, a Chicago-based educator identified as an “Arabic Education Innovator, Chicago Public Schools,” is scheduled to speak on the summit’s education panel, titled “We are All Educators: Changing Hearts, Changing Minds, One Conversation at a Time.”
Abughoush has published social media posts supporting Hamas, including a tribute to its leader Yahya Sinwar. A screenshot of his October 21, 2024, Instagram post under the handle “fabughoush” shows a drawing identifying Sinwar with the caption “Rest well King.”
In an October 21, 2026 report, FDD documented an October 7, 2023 post in which Abughoush shared a graphic contrasting Israeli military equipment with a Hamas assault glider. The graphic questioned why Israeli military action was called self-defense while Hamas’s assault was called terrorism.
A second screenshot shows his January 22, 2024 post featuring a cartoon headed “KOSHER,” depicting Benjamin Netanyahu eating human remains, with a child’s body on the table. FDD’s Brandy Shufutinsky had also discussed the Sinwar tribute and Netanyahu cartoon in written testimony submitted to a House Education and Workforce subcommittee on September 10, 2025.
Qatar Foundation International Honored Abughoush and Supported His School
Abughoush chairs the world languages department at Lindblom Math & Science Academy. Qatar Foundation International named him a recipient of its 2023 Arabic Teacher Excellence Award in an April 30, 2024 announcement, months before the Sinwar tribute. QFI said recipients were selected through an external blind review of their teaching and professional contributions.
QFI identified itself as a U.S.-based member of Qatar Foundation, which was established in 1995 by Qatar’s then-ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. A 2020 profile documented QFI’s support for Abughoush through grants, resources and school trips. “QFI has done a lot for us, and especially for me,” he told the organization. The profile described student visits to Doha, Amman and Morocco.
A July 11, 2025 QFI grant agreement cited in FDD’s October report approved $154,104.09 for Lindblom’s Arabic program during the 2025–26 school year, including $140,094.63 budgeted for an unnamed Arabic teacher’s salary and benefits. The agreement does not identify Abughoush as that teacher. QFI announced on June 5, 2026, that it had concluded operations after more than 17 years.
Arab America Foundation Board Member Served With Muslim Brotherhood Spiritual Leader al-Qaradawi
Hussam Abu Issa, listed as a board member of the Arab America Foundation, is vice chairman of Doha-based Salam International Investment. His company’s Arabic biography confirms that he formerly served on Al-Balagh’s board.
Article 27 of the association’s founding rules, published on Qatar’s Al Meezan legal portal, names Hussam Abdulsalam Abu Issa and Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi among nine initial directors.
Reuters described Qaradawi as a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood. A December 2001 report on his own website quoted his defense of suicide attacks against Israelis, including the claim, translated from Arabic: “Israeli society is entirely military; there are no civilians in it.”
An August 30, 2001 Saudi Press Agency dispatch published by Al-Jazirah identified Qaradawi as head of the Union of Good. The U.S. Treasury designated the coalition under Executive Order 13224 in November 2008, saying Hamas leaders had created it to transfer money to Hamas-controlled organizations. Treasury said some of the money was used to pay families of suicide bombers.
Further Controversy Surrounding El-Sayed’s Senate Campaign
The findings add to the controversies surrounding El-Sayed as he campaigns for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. As Jewish Onliner recently reported, his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, wrote in a 2012 social media post that their mother had participated in Muslim Brotherhood activism while attending college in the early 1970s. The post was identified after El-Sayed denied on NBC’s Meet the Press on October 11 that he or his family had ties to the organization.