Harris campaign's Arab-American outreach director said 'Zionists' are 'controlling a lot' of American politics

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Vice President Kamala Harris' newly-appointed Arab-American outreach director once claimed "Zionists" were "controlling a lot" of American politics.

The Harris campaign announced this week it had tapped Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Brenda Abdelall to oversee the vice president's efforts to shore up support among Arab-American voters in the final months of the presidential race.

However, comments Abdelall made in college in 2002 resurfaced Thursday in a report by The Washington Free Beacon.

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Abdelall, then a political science and Arabic/Islamic studies student at the University of Michigan, was asked by The New York Sun to respond to controversial comments made by a speaker at the American Muslim Council's convention. Jamil Fayez, a professor emeritus at Wake Forest University, had said, "Zionists are destroying America."

"'Destroying' is a harsh word," Abdelall reacted to The New York Sun. "The Zionists have a strong voice in American politics. I would say they're controlling a lot of it."

According to the 2002 New York Sun report, Abdelall pointed to the primary defeat of Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Ala., suggesting it showed "the Jewish influence in politics" since he was attacked by Jewish groups for voting against a House resolution condemning