US's first Muslim senator is Karnataka's (formerly Mysore) son-in-law

 

• First Muslim Senator: Democrat Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate seat, making history in the November 3 midterms.
• Karnataka Connection: His wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, is the granddaughter of JH Shamsuddin Jukaku, a former Mysore State deputy finance minister from Bhatkal, Karnataka.
• Family Legacy & Migration: Shamsuddin's family contributed to local infrastructure and education; his descendants moved to the US, where Sarah met El-Sayed at the University of Michigan, linking US politics with Indian heritage.

The US has elected its first-ever Muslim Senator. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has made history by winning the Michigan Senate seat as part of the November 3 midterms, which saw a blue wave sweep across the nation. What is not that well known, though, is his connection to Karnataka. His wife, Dr Sarah Jukaku, is the granddaughter of a former minister in the erstwhile Mysore State Government.

Sarah's family traces its roots to Bhatkal, a coastal town in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district, around 140 km north of Mangaluru. Her grandfather, JH Shamsuddin Jukaku, was a prominent lawyer, educator and politician who served as deputy finance minister in the erstwhile Mysore State government in the 1950s.

For context, the Mysore State was formed when the Kingdom Of Mysore was incorporated into the Republic of India in 1950. It was enlarged as part of the States Reorganisation Act on November 1, 1956, and was officially renamed Karnataka in November 1973.

WHO WAS JH SHAMSUDDIN JUKAKU?

JH Shamsuddin Jukaku was a prominent lawyer and public figure from Bhatkal, belonging to the Nawayath Muslim community. They are an ancient Muslim merchant community, mostly from the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and Iraq, which settled in the coastal towns of southern India over the last 600 years.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Shamsuddin was the first person to qualify as a lawyer and later be elected as a minister from his community.

He was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly in 1946 and later represented the Honnavar constituency in the Mysore Legislative Assembly, winning elections in 1957 and 1962. In 1958, he became deputy minister for finance in the government led by Chief Minister BD Jatti. He subsequently served as deputy minister for electricity under Chief Minister S Nijalingappa.

In an American Bazaar report published on October 10, residents of Shamsuddin's hometown, Bhatkal, credited him with helping bring electricity and other essential infrastructure to Bhatkal and surrounding areas. He was also closely associated with Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen, a charitable trust that runs educational institutions in the town.

Mohammed Tanveer Kasarkod, a Bhatkal-based engineer familiar with the family's history, told The American Bazaar that Shamsuddin became a lawyer at a time when access to education was limited.

For decades, a prominent intersection in Bhatkal was known as Shamsuddin Circle, named after him. Although the structure at the junction was later demolished during road development, its name continues to be associated with the former minister.

Shamsuddin died at the age of 52, leaving behind six daughters and four sons. His family subsequently moved to different parts of India, with several members settling in Bengaluru.

FROM BHATKAL TO THE US

One of Shamsuddin's sons, Dr Jukaku S Tayeb, was among those who moved out of Bhatkal for better opportunities.

A nephrologist, Tayeb graduated from Bangalore Medical College in 1976. According to The American Bazaar, he worked in Saudi Arabia before moving to the US in the 1980s.

He completed his residency in internal medicine at Bon Secours Hospital in Michigan between 1984 and 1987, followed by a nephrology fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital from 1987 to 1989. He subsequently established a medical practice in the Detroit area.

Sarah was born and raised in Michigan in an Indian immigrant family. Although she grew up in the US, her father made conscious efforts to keep his children connected to their ancestral roots, ensuring they visited Bengaluru and Bhatkal.

According to The American Bazaar, the family also maintained connections with Coorg, while several members of the extended family eventually settled in Bengaluru.

HOW SARAH JUKAKU MET ABDUL EL-SAYED

Sarah attended the University of Michigan, where she met El-Sayed. The two were associated with the university's Muslim Students' Association and married in May 2006.

According to The American Bazaar, Sarah was 19 and El-Sayed was 21 when they married.

Sarah went on to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford before earning her medical degree from Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2015. She subsequently built a career in psychiatry and also held a leadership position in psychiatry at University of Michigan Health, according to the publication.

El-Sayed has spoken publicly about his connection to his wife's Indian heritage.

At a gathering marking Pakistan's Independence Day on August 23, he described Sarah as desi, a term commonly used for people of South Asian heritage, and said she was from the other side of the Partition line, reported The American Bazaar.

In another interview, he spoke humorously about his familiarity with South Indian culture after nearly two decades of marriage.

"Listen, I've been married in a South Indian family for 20 years, like... I am well inducted now. You know, I might be more Indian than I am Arab," he said.

In another remark, he described himself as being surrounded by desi women, referring to his wife and their two daughters.

For Bhatkal, El-Sayed's election has brought renewed attention to a family whose roots run deep in the coastal town. While the new senator's political career has been built in the US, his marriage to Sarah Jukaku connects him to a family that produced a MLA and a minister in post-Independence India.

Vance says the ‘real reason’ for GOP rout was anger over Iran war

 Hours after Democrats routed Republicans in the midterm elections, Vice President JD Vance blamed his party’s losses on Americans’ frustration over the U.S. war with Iran, which has driven up oil prices at a time when costs are already high.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said in a lengthy post on X.

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” Vance wrote. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” Vance added. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

The vice president, a potential GOP 2028 presidential contender, cited an unnamed pollster whom he called “one of the smartest people I know in politics” who told Vance on Tuesday that in his polling, voters identified four top issues that they said Republicans would need to address to win back their support.

Follow live updates on the midterm elections

Vance said they included ending the war on Iran, focusing on the cost of living and inflation, putting America first, and changing the U.S. relationship with Israel.

“Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats,” Vance said. “This is according to a pollster who nailed the results.”

Trump said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the war was a factor in Republicans losing seats.

“Iran was a piece of it,” Trump said, defending the decision to launch the conflict. “I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”

The president had spent the final weeks on the campaign trail highlighting the Iran war, claiming that the U.S. would make a deal soon with Tehran and that gas prices would come down quickly. In an interview on Fox News on Monday, Trump said, “When was the last time we fired anything? This isn’t a war. This is a very soft war.”

“We’re knocking the hell out of them. As soon as the war ends, fuel prices are going to drop like a rock,” he also said in an interview on a Kansas City radio show in late October.

The U.S. attack on Iran first began with strikes on the country, in collaboration with Israel, in late February. The president has said for months since that the war would end soon. He said over the last week that he had no immediate plans to strike Iran after the election.

Trump had reiterated in the numerous rallies leading up to the election that the president’s party has historically suffered during midterm elections.

While Trump partially blamed Tuesday’s outcome on the war, he suggested that most of all, it was because he himself was not on the ballot, despite telling voters to “pretend” he was. NBC News’ exit polling, however, showed deep dissatisfaction with Trump’s policies among voters.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday night. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Letter from Bethlehem: Mazin Qumsiyeh

 Posted at  https://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2026/11/the-agenda-after-elections.html

A major election victory for democrats in the US and a rebuke for the policies of the genocidal Epstein class of Trump and company. Big loss for the Zionist lobby. But the Democratic Party leadership which is in congress had supported the AIPAC candidates who lost like the nutty woman from Michigan. The new progressives in Congress must insist to either get rid of Chuck Schumer (Senate - Zionist bought) and Hakim Jeffries (House – Zionist bought) or that these “leaders” adopt a real progressive agenda as demanded by people like Bernie Sanders and the newly elected dozens of progressives in Congress. Now Congress must act to reflect the will of voters (and Congress does have powers to impeach, power of the purse, power of legislation). I am a US citizen who supported progressive candidates who put US interests first. All who voted for the change must not rest now. They must INUNDATE ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS (democrats, Republicans, others) demanding the following:

-Cut military spending by at least 30% which would sufficient to begin to reduce the unsustainable $40+ trillion national debt, would support an economic rejuvenation in the US, universal health care (see Scandinavian countries for models), repairing ailing pubic infrastructure, have affordable higher education and much more

-Seriously address climate change that is getting us to the brink of a global catastrophe now (and reverse Trump’s policies that called climate change a hoax and caused so much health impact)

-Stop extortion of other states with Tariffs that increase cost of living and build US businesses to be competitive (e.g, Green technologies)

-Impeach officials starting with Hegseth and Robert G Kennedy Jr (hundreds of thousands of lives lost on their hands).

-Dismantle the militia known as ICE

-Support a wealth tax. Billionaires (and musk is a trillionaire) did not get this way by their work but by money making money that is not taxed. Capital gain tax should be at least 50% for those who have a net worth of over $10 million

-Release all Epstein files without any redactions! Then hold the pedophiles including Trump and Bill Clinton to account!

-FBI should create a task force to find all the other ‘Epsteins’ out there especially when they work for foreign governments like Israel.

-The Leahy law that says we must not support human rights violators (like ‘Saudi Arabia’ and Egyptian governments) must be enforced

-AIPAC and other similar entities serving foreign interests must be investigated for meddling in US elections and if allowed to continue to operate must register as a foreign lobby

-Stope the ongoing genocide and investigate and prosecute US officials who were partners in the genocide in Palestine, in the illegal wars on Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria etc.

-End the illegal blockade on Cuba and Iran

-Release the illegally abducted president of Venezuela and his wife and expose the extortion racket that enriched Trump’s family and friends from the oil of Venezuela.

- Hold accountable those responsible for the murder of boaters in the Caribbean (extrajudicial executions).

-End the persecution and harassment of human rights defenders opposing genocide on college campuses and in US cities (and punish the perpetrators).

-Repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force and the Patriot Act to restore people’s rights.

European, Gulf and other Governments that thought that gaining favor in Washington comes through Tel Aviv now got a big wake-up call from these elections (case study Abdul in Michigan). We must now accelerate boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (bdsmovement.net) like we did with South Africa. The public should also hold the complicit corporate media for hiding information and lying about all these things.

Mazin Qumsiyeh

CAIR-Texas Welcomes Voter Rejection of ‘Politics of Hate’

 The Texas chapter (CAIR-Texas) and national headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today congratulated Governor-Elect Gina Hinojosa, U.S. Senator-Elect James Talarico, Attorney General-Elect Nathan Johnson, and Railroad Commissioner-Elect Jon Rosenthal on their election victories.

CAIR and CAIR-Texas said that the results represent a rejection of anti-Muslim bigotry and the “politics of hate” advanced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Mayes Middleton, and Bo French, who all lost their races after campaigns centered around anti-Muslim bigotry.

In a joint statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR and CAIR-Texas said:

“We congratulate Governor-Elect Hinojosa and Senator-Elect Talarico on winning their elections after running positive campaigns focused on serving everyone in Texas. These historic results in Texas were not only a rebuke of President Trump’s disastrous policies. The results were also a rebuke of the politics of hate.

“From Greg Abbott to Ken Paxton to Bo French to Mayes Middleton, voters rejected Texas politicians who fanned the flames of hate against American Muslims and weaponized the state against Americans who advocate for Palestinian human rights.

“At the same time, candidates in Texas who were attacked for engaging with American Muslims, including Sen-Elect Talarico and Gov-Elect Hinojosa, still won. It is also important to note that Sen-Talarico repeatedly spoke up for a just, peaceful foreign policy, condemning the Israeli government’s slaughter of children in Gaza.

“These victories in a red state like Texas show that anti-Muslim hate is no longer a winning political strategy and that Texas Muslims are no longer a political football. We are equal political participants. We look forward to working with Gov-Elect and Sen-Elect Talarico to advance just policies for everyone in our state.”

Abbott and Paxton’s targeting of Muslim communities and institutions have included efforts to obstruct the East Plano Islamic Center’s (EPIC) proposed neighborhood development, attempts to shut down a Muslim funeral home, the state’s attempt to illegally and baselessly smear CAIR and CAIR-Texas, and attempts to ban Texas Muslim private schools from the state’s school voucher program.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.      

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

END

Message from CAIR

 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and CAIR Action today released a nationwide exit survey showing that the genocide in Gaza, the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, economic pressures, and rising Islamophobia shaped American Muslim voters’ participation and choices in the November 3 midterm elections.

The 2026 Exit Survey of Muslim Voters, conducted by Community Pulse, operated by Molitico, presents weighted findings from 522 registered voters who self-identify as Muslim. The survey was conducted November 2–4, including early voters. These preliminary findings reflect responses received as of 9:42 a.m. ET on November 4.

READ THE FULL EXIT SURVEY REPORT: CLICK HERE

WATCH CAIR’S LIVESTREAM PRESS CONFERENCE RELEASE OF THE REPORT

Related CAIR election statements:

• Michigan: CAIR and CAIR-Michigan recognized Abdul El-Sayed’s historic election as the first Muslim U.S. senator.
• Texas: CAIR and CAIR-Texas welcomed the Hinojosa and Talarico victories as voters rejected the politics of hate.

In a joint statement, CAIR and CAIR Action said:

“Our exit poll of Muslim voters shows a clear pattern: Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, and economic pressures drove Muslim voters’ choices. Rising Islamophobia strengthened their motivation to vote. They overwhelmingly backed Democrats, but many remain unconvinced that either party listens to their concerns.

“Muslims, like our fellow Americans, are fed up with wars that destroy lives abroad while making it harder to feed our families at home. Congress has a mandate: lower costs, improve healthcare and education, protect civil rights, stop enabling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, and stop allowing Israel to drag America into wars of aggression.

“During this election season, anti-Muslim extremists, Israel lobby groups, and even the President of the United States tried to turn Muslim candidates and Muslim voters into political boogeymen. Those smears failed to stop historic gains in American Muslim participation and representation. Investment in voter registration, education, and turnout helped our community turn anger into political power.

“We are tracking more than 160 American Muslim candidates who sought local, state, and federal office this election cycle. Based on preliminary public reporting, at least seven American Muslims have been elected to the next Congress, including our first Muslim U.S. senator, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, and Representatives-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier and Dr. Adam Hamawy. Congresswoman Aisha Wahab is leading her reelection race, which could bring the total to eight.

“We thank Muslim voters across the country for making their voices heard. Their participation is helping ensure that Muslims are no longer on the political menu, but at the political table. Now Congress must deliver.”

Key survey findings among Muslim respondents

• High participation among respondents: 93% reported having voted. Another 3% said, at the time they responded, that they still planned to vote. These figures describe survey respondents and are not an estimate of turnout among all registered Muslim voters.
• Strong Democratic support: Among respondents who voted, 80% said they primarily voted for Democrats, compared with 6% for Republicans, 5% for independent candidates, and 1% for third parties. Another 9% preferred not to say.
• Gaza was the most-cited issue: 76% named Gaza and Palestinian human rights among their most important issues, and 80% said the genocide in Gaza was a major influence on their vote.
• The U.S.-Israel war on Iran weighed heavily: 76% said the war was a major influence on their vote, 66% named it among their most important issues, and 72% said their vote sent a message to prevent a wider war in the Middle East.
• Economic pressures shaped choices: 80% said the economy was a major influence on their vote, 66% named the economy and inflation among their top issues, and 70% said their vote sent a message supporting lower costs and economic opportunity.
• Islamophobia motivated participation: 70% said rising Islamophobia motivated them to vote, including 55% who said it made them much more motivated. Combating Islamophobia was among the top issues for 47%.
• Party support did not mean full trust: 53% identified Democrats as more responsive to American Muslims’ concerns, compared with 4% who identified Republicans. One-third, 33%, said neither party was more responsive.

Respondents also emphasized civil rights and accountability: 69% said their vote sent a message to protect civil rights and religious freedom, and 66% sought to hold elected officials accountable. Just 16% selected support for their party’s agenda as a message behind their vote.

FOR MORE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT RESOURCES: Visit Muslims.Vote for nonpartisan election information and voter-rights resources.

Methodology

Community Pulse conducted the survey November 2–4, 2026, using text-message invitations to registered voters identified as Muslim in the national voter file. Recruitment combined a stratified random sample with respondents to earlier CAIR surveys and members of the Community Pulse panel. Early voters were invited November 2; other voters were invited on Election Day.

The findings are based on 522 self-identified Muslim respondents, including partial responses. Muslim respondents were weighted separately to ISPU’s 2025 race and ethnicity estimates for American Muslims and to the voter-file profile of Muslim registered voters by age, gender, turnout history, region, and state. The pollster reports a margin of error of ±6.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, accounting for weighting.

The number answering each question varies. Issue-priority, influence, and voting-message questions included respondents who had voted or still planned to vote. Percentages are rounded, so totals may differ from 100% and combined figures may differ from sums of rounded components. Multiple-response questions may total more than 100%. Results are preliminary as of November 4 at 9:42 a.m. ET.

CAIR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and does not endorse or oppose candidates for office. CAIR Action is a separate 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that endorsed over 1,600 candidates in the 2026 General election. The survey findings describe respondents’ views and are not organizational endorsements.

END

Jewish groups: Birmingham Council move to discuss boycotting Israel is illegal

 Click the link to read the story - https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-913741 

Three Years of Genocide… What Has Gaza Taught Me? by Barbara Altemus

 Today, October 7, marks three full years of the genocide in Gaza. These years have passed through our bodies and our hearts, tearing part of the soul from every home and taking something irreplaceable from every family.

It has been the darkest nightmare imaginable, yet we could not wake from it, because it was our life. We witnessed what we once thought no human soul could bear to see, and endured more than words can hold: killing, displacement, famine and thirst; massacres, mass death and disease; patients searching for medicine, children waiting for bread, mothers seeking shelter, and fathers gathering what remained of their children.

We lost our houses, then lost the people who made them homes. We lost our beloved children and those dearest to us, until every name caught in our throats, every familiar place held an absence, and every memory opened a door to grief.

Beyond all of this, we endured abandonment on a scale we never imagined the world could contain: abandonment by those close to us, by brothers and friends, and by a wider community whose stories of coming to one another’s aid had shaped our childhoods. We cried out until our voices grew weary, while its doors remained closed. Three years, and we still endure the humiliation of waiting for a loaf of bread, a drink of water, and a roof to shelter our children—as though our right to live must be pleaded for anew each morning.

The whirlpool of death swept through our homes, wounding every family and taking someone precious from every heart. The world watched us bleed and be killed in houses, apartment buildings, hospitals and tents, until our dwellings became temporary graves and our tents shrouds awaiting their hour. They could shield our frail bodies neither from summer’s heat nor winter’s cold, nor from the fire of missiles.

What has this war taught me?

It taught me that a homeland is the face of a child we fear for, a mother’s hand we hold tightly, and a home whose way we still know even after it becomes rubble. It taught me that the loss of loved ones does not end when the condolences end. It begins when everything falls quiet, and we search for their voices, finding only a silence shaped by their absence.

It taught me that a father can carry what remains of his son, then stand with what remains of his heart to comfort another father. That a doctor can bury loved ones and return to a wounded person waiting for his hands. That a person can be drained of almost every ounce of strength, then find enough within their faith to support someone else.

It taught me that patience is a tear falling as we say, “Praise be to God,” and a heart breaking without losing hope in Him. For three years, at every farewell, the world has heard us say those words. We said them with pain in our throats and tears upon our faces, because we believe that God sees, and that what is with Him is better and everlasting.

It also taught me that abandonment wounds us, but cannot determine who we become. We are a people who want to live with dignity, raise our children in safety, and see our homeland free and our holy places protected. Whenever they uprooted a tree, we remembered its place so we could plant again. Whenever they demolished a school, we taught our children among the tents. Whenever they sought to extinguish life, they found someone supporting the wounded, sharing bread, or lifting a stone from the rubble.

Three years, and we still carry the names of our martyrs in our prayers and our children’s dreams within our hearts. Amid this devastation, we search for the first steps toward recovery. We will build with whatever strength remains, preserve the stories of those we have lost, and restore as much of life as we can.

We will never renounce our dreams or surrender our surviving children to despair. We will move toward freedom and victory, carrying those we have lost in our hearts, and holding in our hands the means to build a tomorrow worthy of their sacrifices.

O God, as You have helped us endure this grief, help us rise again. Have mercy on our martyrs, heal our wounded, free our prisoners, and grant us, after this long night, a dawn in which our families are safe and our homeland is free.

Barbara Altemus, writer, author and documentary filmmaker, was in Palestine in October 2022 with Eyewitness Palestine, a delegation of Palestinians, Jews and people of diverse faiths, ethnicities and nationalities.