Kat Abughazaleh is 26 years outdated, has personally confronted the wrath of the world’s richest particular person, and is up towards two profession politicians in a congressional district that has not been aggressive since 1998—a yr earlier than Abughazaleh was born. However that hasn’t stopped the social media influencer-turned-aspiring politician from operating for Illinois’s ninth Congressional District.
Abughazaleh gained preliminary stardom for her movies debunking falsehoods touted by then-Fox Information anchor Tucker Carlson as a part of her editorial place at Media Issues for America, a left-leaning journalism watchdog. However her criticism of Israel’s struggle in Gaza (Abughazaleh, herself, is of Palestinian descent), her unorthodox marketing campaign technique (she requested for interval product donations relatively than an entrance price at her launch get together), and her name for higher Democratic Get together management (“What if we didn’t suck?”) have raised her political profile.
Abughazaleh champions progressive insurance policies in her detailed platform, from defending LGBTQ+ and girls’s rights to combating gun violence and local weather change; her marketing campaign supervisor repeatedly reminded Overseas Coverage that her points web page is greater than double the size of these of Illinois state Sen. Laura Positive and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the opposite two front-runners within the crowded race. Notably, her web page can also be the one one of many three that explicitly mentions overseas coverage.
Overseas Coverage spoke with the Gen Z candidate about her imaginative and prescient for what she calls a “humane overseas coverage,” america’ position within the Center East, assist for NATO, and the one foreign-policy difficulty that she feels is being ignored.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Overseas Coverage: One of many key pillars of your platform is a humane overseas coverage. What does a humane overseas coverage imply to you, and what does america must do to get there?
Kat Abughazaleh: I believe a humane overseas coverage means making an attempt our greatest and striving for a world the place individuals have equal rights, the place individuals have their wants, the place we don’t encourage authoritarianism. It not solely makes for a greater world, nevertheless it additionally makes for a safer, extra inclusive, extra related America.
FP: You point out authoritarianism. What do you imagine is the largest risk to U.S. democracy?
KA: I believe it’s extremism. I believe it’s mis- and disinformation, and I believe it’s far-right actors making an attempt their finest to not solely break up us aside however encouraging violence and hateful rhetoric in our communities.
FP: Inform me just a little bit extra about extremist governments and the far proper. What position do you imagine that you’ve got or would have if elected in combating that?
KA: I’ve a novel expertise and perspective on this as a result of my background was researching and reporting on the far proper. … And I believe that our present management in politics as a complete basically doesn’t perceive the dangers of the far proper. They take quite a lot of bad-faith arguments in good religion and aren’t keen to acknowledge or not less than perceive how this hate ends in real-life penalties.
FP: If elected, what foreign-policy objectives or laws would you prioritize on day one in workplace?
KA: First off, we have to strengthen the Leahy Act and the Leahy Amendments. We have to make it possible for when Individuals’ tax {dollars} are used for weapons, it doesn’t matter what ally they’re being given to, that these weapons aren’t getting used to interrupt worldwide regulation, to interrupt American legal guidelines. If we aren’t keen to carry our allies accountable, all of them, what are we keen to do to individuals in our personal nation?
Proper now, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his far-right authorities don’t have any penalties for utilizing our weapons to harm civilians [in Gaza], and we aren’t abiding by the Leahy Act. We’re not guaranteeing that our tax {dollars} and our weapons are being truly used for protection. As an alternative, what we’ve seen are thousands and thousands of civilians being starved, most of whom are kids. That line must be drawn. That may be the case if this was any nation, not simply Israel.
The difficulty right here proper now’s the U.S. is complicit in all of this. It’s not solely complicit; it’s accountable for lots of this hurt. And it’s rewarding Netanyahu by not placing any parameters by any means. This was a man-made catastrophe. And it’s as much as america as one of many greatest allies of Israel to placed on that strain and make sure that our values and fundamental human dignity are acknowledged.
FP: You used a fairly heavy phrase: complicit. A number of nations have accused Israel of committing struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity in Gaza. Would you go as far as to say that america is complicit in that by offering army arms and tools to Israel?
KA: Completely, 100%. These acts are being dedicated with our weapons, and if that’s not complicity, I don’t know what’s.
FP: I need to delve just a little bit deeper into your views on Israel. It’s most likely one of many greatest divergences between you and the bigger Democratic Get together. You’ve been very essential of U.S. army help to Israel. What steps do you imagine must be taken to safe an finish to the Israel-Hamas struggle? What do you imagine a postwar Gaza ought to appear to be to forestall future unrest within the area?
KA: We’d like, first off, elections in Gaza. There hasn’t been one in many years. It’s been managed by Hamas and, within the interim, [Palestinian Authority] governance. What we actually must do is guarantee that there’s freedom of motion, equal rights, and equal entry to sources, in addition to rebuilding Gaza after this. I simply assume that ending the struggle just isn’t sufficient. We have to make sure that individuals may have a life after that.
However there’s no future proper now with Hamas and Netanyahu in energy. Palestinians deserve the identical rights as anybody else. In any nation, we must be striving for democracy, for a protected life for all civilians, for kids to be educated and wholesome. And with the place we’re proper now, it looks like offers can simply fall by and there aren’t any penalties, that folks will be starved and some miles away, there’s a whole inhabitants that simply doesn’t acknowledge it. It’s heartbreaking to see.
FP: You might be operating in a district with a really giant Jewish inhabitants, which, for FP readers who might not know, contains the city of Skokie, as soon as dwelling to hundreds of Holocaust survivors and which confronted a big neo-Nazi march within the Seventies. Do you concern in any respect that your extra essential opinions of the Israeli authorities may alienate or hurt your recognition amongst voters?
KA: Completely not. And actually, I discover it type of offensive when individuals counsel that Jewish individuals received’t assist a Palestinian that’s advocating for peace. Jewish individuals have constantly been probably the most steadfast and devoted allies to equal Palestinian rights and liberation since 1948 [when Israel was founded]. And I hold seeing that right here on the bottom, speaking to voters, speaking to individuals on this district.
FP: Having a father of Palestinian descent, has your private identification impacted your beliefs?
KA: I imply, there’s completely a private part to this. You realize, my grandparents have been Nakba survivors. I’ve informed this story many instances that my great-grandfather, he died with the important thing ring to his resort nonetheless on him. He carried it with him on daily basis, hoping at some point he’d return. And my father was born in Kuwait with out citizenship. He was stateless. He moved to america when he was 15 to go to varsity, however that trauma nonetheless continues.
However it’s irritating as a Palestinian particular person to have my ideas on simply fundamental human rights—one thing I’ve advocated for my total life and never simply on this battle however throughout the board—be lowered simply to my final identify or simply to who my mother and father are, my grandparents are. At its core, this can be a human rights difficulty.
FP: Exterior of the Israel-Hamas struggle, america has had rising involvement in Israel’s battle with Iran, together with by ordering strikes on key Iranian nuclear websites earlier than brokering a cease-fire deal. Did you assist U.S. President Donald Trump’s resolution to assault Iran?
KA: Completely not. This was unlawful and immoral. Regardless of the place Iran is in its nuclear facility, this doesn’t justify a preemptive strike. The struggle of aggression is a struggle crime. And, actually, this will increase—or raises the possibility, not less than—of Iran utilizing weapons or growing them even quicker. I’m simply so blown away at how reckless Trump’s actions are.
FP: What do you assume america ought to prioritize by way of safety and protection?
KA: I believe the largest factor proper now’s specializing in the place our weapons are getting used. We’ve got the largest and costliest army. We spend extra on our army than another nation on this planet. And I believe we have to prioritize ensuring that our partnerships aren’t getting used to make the world worse. I imply, we want an arms embargo on the [United Arab Emirates] and Saudi Arabia utilizing American weapons in Yemen. We have to reevaluate what we need to see on this planet and the way we wish American values to be perceived by individuals overseas.
FP: Talking of American values, what do you see america’ position to be in NATO?
KA: The way in which that the precise demonizes NATO just isn’t solely immature, nevertheless it additionally undermines American safety. Ukraine must be a precedence for NATO. We have to shield Europe from Russian invasion. What [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has completed in invading Ukraine has been one of many blatant, most aggressive, and unlawful invasions of one other nation that we’ve seen since World Battle II. And if we stand again and let Ukraine fall, let Putin do what he desires, it’s not going to cease there. And that must be a precedence for NATO and for america.
Putin has his eyes on way over simply Ukraine, and with out American assist, Ukraine wouldn’t have been capable of final as lengthy within the struggle.
FP: You’ve additionally been very clear in denouncing mass deportations in america and Trump’s caps on refugee resettlement. With Chicago being a sanctuary metropolis, how do you purpose to assist undocumented immigrants in search of refuge whereas additionally encouraging authorized pathways to citizenship?
KA: I believe it’s clear that what ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is doing just isn’t solely unlawful; it’s immoral. It’s a human rights violation. Our marketing campaign workplace [is] in Rogers Park, which has a excessive stage of immigrants right here. This district, 27 p.c of it was born abroad. We’ll do the whole lot we will to make the place we’re protected and welcoming and in addition assist anybody who wants it. If ICE involves my block, you guess I can be there.
Actually, what we have to do is abolish ICE. That is the president’s secret police proper now. And we must be treating it as such.
FP: Your foray into politics—and significantly a few of the laws and insurance policies that you simply’ve proposed, corresponding to abolishing ICE—has been in comparison with the Democrats’ model of the Tea Get together motion, a push to a extra extremist aspect of your get together. Do you assume that’s an correct portrayal? What would you say to Democrats who assume that transferring towards the middle is a simpler technique to realize votes?
KA: If wanting individuals to have housing, groceries, and well being care is extremism, if desirous to make it possible for individuals aren’t terrorized of their houses, if desirous to make it possible for everybody has equal rights and that everybody not solely can survive however thrive, if that’s extremism, then we’ve got shifted to this point proper that we must be questioning what the Democratic Get together is.
I believe we must be reevaluating the place we’re as a rustic and what we consider the left and proper sphere as a result of this must be the naked minimal.
FP: With regards to the naked minimal and defending U.S. safety and growth, what do imagine is the largest risk?
KA: I might say authoritarian regimes at giant and in addition if individuals like Donald Trump are supporting them. Allying ourselves with authoritarian regimes won’t ever finish properly. Their tendencies aren’t solely anti-democratic; they’re centered on the self, on the whims of dictators. We have to draw a line of what’s acceptable and what’s not. And punishing individuals for his or her inalienable qualities, taking away their inalienable rights, and making an attempt to do that strongman, agro-violent bullshit is prohibited and immoral, and we shouldn’t encourage it.
FP: What space of overseas coverage do you imagine goes ignored by present lawmakers? And the way would you’re employed to reverse course?
KA: I believe Sudan and specializing in how the UAE is arming [and] sending weapons to Sudan. I believe it’s actually under-covered by our lawmakers and by our press. Sudanese militias are at the moment committing horrible crimes towards humanity, and there shouldn’t be exceptions to who’s held accountable.
FP: Illinois’s congressional major election can be held subsequent March. What do you imagine units you aside out of your opponents?
KA: For those who have a look at each candidate on this race’s difficulty pages, mine is probably the most complete. And it’s truly probably the most complete not less than of any nonincumbent congressional candidate and doubtless greater than quite a lot of incumbents. And I believe my willingness to not solely communicate out on these points but additionally take into consideration them critically and have my positions public is a giant distinction. I’m additionally the one candidate on this race to name for a bilateral cease-fire and hostage deal between Gaza and Israel proper now.
One of many points with institution Democrats and what we’ve seen from the get together is simply this unwillingness to talk out on points as a result of they’re controversial or troublesome, however that’s what individuals need and want to listen to about. And when you don’t handle them, nobody is aware of the place you stand.
Correction, July 2, 2025: This dialog was up to date to repair a transcription error.
