Michigan election: How Abdul El-Sayed's critics smeared his defence of Palestinians as 'hate'

In his victory speech last week, Abdulrahman El-Sayed, the first Muslim American elected to the US Senate, said "hate" or "hateful" five times, and each time the word did something different.

He recalled supporters asking why he never called his opponents hateful. Those opponents, he said, "hate the idea" of an America big enough for people who pray differently.

He told Mike Rogers, the Republican he had just beaten, "You chose hate, and Michigan chose hope." Then he turned to those who call people hateful for believing that Palestinian children should not be killed with American tax dollars: "That's not hate. It's love."