When Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed could not say Iran is a bigger threat to the U.S. than Israel, it was a warning of elections in a post-Oct. 7 world, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton Klein says.

American and even Israeli leaders are failing to show strength against hate as anti-Zionist voices gain power, Klein told Digital in a Monday interview.

«Ilhan Omar is one of the most vicious Jew haters in America,» Klein said, speaking on behalf of himself and not as the leader of the ZOA. «And it is very painful to me that the leaders of the Democratic Party have not continuously and vigorously condemned her» and other antisemitic political leaders, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

They are not merely «pro-Palestinian» voices, Klein says: «They’re anti-Israel voices. They don’t really give a damn about the Palestinians either. They just hate Jews in the Jewish state. That’s my opinion.»

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The ZOA is a 501(c)(3) that is unpermitted by law to talk candidacies as opposed to their positions, Klein stressed, before unloading on the voices that take aim at Israel and ostensibly handing political power to the antisemites and terrorists – which even includes Israeli elections just two weeks from now.

«Viciously antisemitic members of Congress have not been condemned in any significant way by the Democratic Party,» he continued. «So it’s disappointing to me as an American that we don’t condemn people who are filled with hate and not filled with what’s best for America.»

Anti-Israel rhetoric has moved from the political fringe into elected office, he said, warning that Democrats have not forcefully condemned members of their own party who he says traffic in antisemitism.

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It has even forced Israeli leaders to move toward a dangerous level of «appeasement,» according to Klein.

«I blame the Jewish leaders and the Israeli leaders themselves: You might find that surprising,» he said. «The Israeli government over the years has not made it clear that the Hamas Charter has two clauses that say, murder every Jew on earth, destroy Israel. And, most recently, El-Sayed not only refused to clearly name Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, as a greater threat than Israel during a Michigan Senate debate, «he said worse,» Klein lamented.

«He said both of them are dangerous to America, and he said Israel is as evil as Hamas,» he continued.

«The Democratic Party has not condemned him. Worse, [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer endorsed him, has given him tens of millions of dollars to run,» Klein said. «Elissa Slotkin, the senator from Michigan, Jewish senator, has endorsed him. And [Dana] Nessel, the attorney general, Jewish attorney general has endorsed them. This is disgraceful.»

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«If this guy was unequivocally anti-Black, they would have all condemned him. Why don’t they condemn people who hate Jews for no reason whatsoever? It’s very, very frightening,» he said.

During his push to hold the Michigan Senate seat for Democrats, Abdul El-Sayed described Judaism as «a light unto the world,» expressing deep gratitude for the Jewish community’s contributions.

«My commitment to Jewish safety is equivalent to the commitment to the safety of my own daughters,» he said.

Klein also weighed in on Mamdani for declining to condemn the phrase «globalize the intifada,» a call to violence against Jews around the world, he warned.

«Mamdani was asked to condemn the phrase, globalize the intifada … he refused to condemn this phrase,» Klein said. «This guy is a monster. He is a jihadist Jew-hater supporter of terrorism.»

Despite the criticism, Mamdani has pledged to «protect our Jewish neighbors» and stated his commitment to «mourning with them, and committing to fight against evil and antisemitism.»

As Mamdani has done explicitly, Israel is often portrayed as the aggressor and perpetrator of a so-called «genocide» in Gaza, Klein observed, stating that the reality is those atrocities were committed by Hamas terrorists Oct. 7, when terrorists invaded Israel specifically to kill «Jews,» not merely «people,» Klein said.

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«They went in house to house, door to door, murdering every single family,» Klein said. «Can you imagine? They go in and there’s a mother and a father and children sitting, they’re scared out of their minds, and they shoot them to death. And oftentimes they raped the mother first and then they murdered them. Then they put babies into ovens and killed them that way. It’s just a nightmare what they did.»

«Yes, their goal is to murder every single Jew. In fact, the leaders of Hamas have said repeatedly: ‘We will have many, many more Oct. 7s; you wait, many, more Oct. 7s,» he added.

Klein said any future Israeli government after the Oct. 27 elections must be «as tough as nails, responding with overwhelming force for any terrorism,» and do as the «the people demanded: destroy Hamas.»

Klein warned, however, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be weakened politically if he is forced to form an alliance with left-of-center parties after Israel’s elections.

«The polls show that it’s likely that Netanyahu will win again, but he may have to have a broader coalition to bring in people from the left of center,» Klein warned. «I think the odds are high Bibi will continue to be the prime minister. But his hands will be somewhat tied if he’s forced, and I think he will be forced, to bring people from left of the center to have coalition.»

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Asked whether the process of forming a coalition could weaken Israel’s response, Klein answered, «Yes.»

«Yes, because some of the left-of-center people are appeasement-oriented,» Klein said. «They still believe just give the Arabs more, it’ll be all right.»

«And people have to understand, and these people don’t quite understand, this is not a war about land or about a Palestinian state. This is a war about destroying Israel and killing Jews.»

He argued that Israel should reject further concessions and project strength until its enemies accept that the Jewish state cannot be destroyed and the decades of calls for a Palestinian state are a proven failure.

«They had it; they controlled it,» Klein said. «They could have just said a new country of Palestine has now emerged. No, because the goal is not that. The goal is Israel’s destruction.»

«Only when they understand that, that it’s hopeless for them to destroy the Jewish state of Israel, only then might they finally lay down their arms and say, we give up.»

anti semitism, politics, ilhan omar, abdul el sayed, benjamin netanyahu, hamas, chuck schumer, rashida tlaib

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Sunday that four service members were killed and dozens more seriously injured after a fire broke out during military training at a base in Alberta, calling it one of the country’s worst peacetime military tragedies on domestic soil.

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The deadly fire erupted Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, where fierce winds fueled flames that spread beyond the installation and into surrounding rural areas. Canadian military officials said there were no indications of terrorism, though the cause remained under investigation.

Carney said in a televised address that the families of the four service members killed had been notified and that the situation was still evolving.

AT LEAST 1 KILLED, 34 FIREFIGHTERS AND EMS WORKERS INJURED IN ‘MAJOR’ STATEN ISLAND SHIPYARD EXPLOSION: FDNY

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Paramedics load an injured person into an ambulance at the Wainwright Health Centre as injured military members are treated after a fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, outside of Wainwright, Alberta Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (John Ulan/The Canadian Press via AP)

The prime minister said those affected included reservists and soldiers from Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, one of Canada’s oldest military regiments. Personnel had traveled from bases across the country to participate in training exercises at Wainwright.

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a statement on Parliament Hill following a deadly fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta, in Ottawa on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty initially confirmed fatalities and injuries but did not provide a casualty count, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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«I cannot recall such an incident in my short time for sure as a minister, but I cannot recall an incident like this in recent memory,» McGuinty told reporters.

The exact number of injured service members remained unclear Sunday, with victims receiving treatment at hospitals in Wainwright, Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary.

Several hospitals across Alberta activated a «Code Orange,» an emergency designation for mass-casualty incidents, as medical personnel scrambled to treat the wounded.

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Paramedics work at the Wainwright Health Centre as injured military members are treated after a fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, outside of Wainwright, Alberta Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (John Ulan/The Canadian Press via AP)

«This number of patients would overwhelm the city of Edmonton,» Dr. Warren Thirsk, an emergency department physician at Royal Alexandra Hospital, told CBC News. «It is more patients than any of us want to count right now. It’s a disaster.»

MARINE CORPS OSPREY CATCHES FIRE DURING EXERCISE IN NORTH CAROLINA; 4 INJURED

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said officers responded to reports of a fire in a training area at the base shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday. Firefighters battled intense winds, with gusts reaching up to 62 mph, as flames spread beyond the installation.

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By late Saturday, local officials said the fire was being held and that property and critical infrastructure were protected. No evacuation order had been issued for nearby residents.

McGuinty said the RCMP was involved in investigating the incident, describing the situation as «very, very active and delicate.»

Carney announced that flags would fly at half-staff on federal buildings nationwide in honor of those killed and injured. He also praised emergency crews who battled the flames through the night.

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Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A four-legged robot dog prowled the floor of the Army’s largest annual conference in Washington, D.C., this week. Nearby a handheld weapon promised to knock drones from the sky without firing a shot, and a new interceptor was built to chase down the faster, deadlier versions coming next.

The displays offered a glimpse of a battlefield changing at a pace that is forcing the U.S. military and defense industry to race not only to develop new weapons, but to keep them from becoming outdated as quickly as they arrive.

«It’s always a cat and mouse game, and we do have to be looking down the field,» Eric Brock, CEO of defense technology company Ondas, told Digital in an interview at the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) annual meeting.

That race was hard to miss at the AUSA expo this week, where drones, counter-drone weapons and autonomous systems crowded the show floor as the Army looks to rapidly incorporate lessons from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East into its battleplan.

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«If you walk around the hall at AUSA, it’ll give you a good indication of the Army’s priorities. Our priorities are reflected in what we’re procuring,» Army Under Secretary Mike Obadal said ahead of the conference.

On the ground, Ondas demonstrated a huge piece of that shift: Scout, a four-legged robotic system designed to move ahead of troops into buildings, tunnels and other potentially dangerous areas while sending imagery back to an operator.

«The whole concept is that if the Scout takes fire, it’s better than the soldier,» Brock told Digital during the demonstration.

The Army’s new autonomous systems command is part of a wider Pentagon effort to organize around unmanned warfare, while War Secretary Pete Hegseth said at AUSA this week that the department is working toward a four-star-led Autonomous Warfare Command.

Obadal predicted an «immense number» of drones and counter-UAS systems at the show, saying their prevalence reflected procurement and budget priorities across the Pentagon. Ukraine, he said, had «cemented» counter-UAS as a critical part of modern operations.

The Army is reorganizing around that reality. This month it announced a new Futures and Autonomous Systems Command tasked with accelerating autonomous capabilities across formations including aviation, armor, fires, sustainment and reconnaissance. At AUSA, the service also expanded drone and counter-drone marketplaces designed to allow the U.S. and its allies to purchase pre-approved systems in days rather than months.

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For Brock, one of the clearest lessons from the recent war with Iran was the sheer number of threats defenses could be forced to confront.

«It’s more about mass,» he said. «So we have to make these affordable, low cost, returnable systems, and we have to produce this to scale.»

Ondas has rapidly expanded its own role in that push. Its Mistral subsidiary has secured more than $240 million in orders under the Army’s $982 million Lethal Unmanned Systems contract, including an additional order worth more than $50 million announced in August.

The company also acquired DZYNE Technologies this summer in a deal valued at roughly $875 million, adding a portfolio of drones and counter-drone weapons that includes the IonStrike kinetic interceptor and handheld Dronebuster demonstrated for Digital at AUSA.

INSIDE AMERICA’S LASER REVOLUTION AS THE MILITARY NEARS BIG BATTLEFIELD BREAKTHROUGH

IonStrike is designed to physically intercept incoming drones, including Shahed-class one-way attack drones. Brock said newer versions of the threat are becoming faster and increasingly difficult for defenses built around earlier, slower drones to defeat.

«The faster moving [Shaheds] now need more autonomous systems,» Brock said during a demonstration of the interceptor. «So this system is designed to be very fast.»

The system uses onboard guidance to pursue a detected threat and is designed to be deployed in numbers when multiple drones are approaching.

But no single weapon can address the growing range of unmanned threats.

Ondas also demonstrated its handheld Dronebuster, which uses electronic warfare to jam or spoof communications and navigation links rather than physically destroying an incoming drone. The company recently unveiled a longer-range version under contract for delivery to the Office of Naval Research for testing and evaluation.

Those tools illustrate the increasingly layered approach to counter-drone warfare: electronic attack may be enough against one type of drone, while another operating without a vulnerable radio link could require a physical interceptor.

And each adaptation can prompt another.

Brock pointed to Ukraine, where defenders have developed increasingly effective ways to counter the Shahed-type drones Russia has used in attacks across the country. Russia and its suppliers, in turn, have worked to make those weapons faster and harder to stop.

That rapid cycle is putting pressure on a Pentagon acquisition system historically accustomed to developing major weapons over years or decades. The Army used AUSA itself to hunt for more affordable interceptor technology, offering up to $20 million through a competition focused on defeating air and missile threats at a more sustainable cost.

The challenge is also moving beyond individual drones and interceptors.

Ondas has partnered with Palantir on software aimed at connecting sensors, drones, robotic platforms and command systems so they can operate as part of a larger autonomous network. Its SkyWeaver system uses Palantir-powered AI as part of an architecture designed to link intelligence, mission planning and autonomous operations across multiple domains.

«We’re moving from each platform being individually autonomous platforms to mission autonomy,» Brock said.

That could mean connecting intelligence gathered by high-altitude balloons and long-endurance unmanned aircraft with smaller drones, ground systems and other sensors closer to the fight, including in environments where traditional communications are degraded.

For Brock, keeping pace will increasingly depend on whether the U.S. can manufacture autonomous weapons and defenses in the numbers a future conflict could demand.

«I think that’s the bigger challenge,» Brock said. «Technology is not really a challenge. We can build fast interceptors. We can build autonomy. That technology is there. It’s ready.»

«Can we produce this en masse as our adversaries are?»

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