But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. How we check

Sam Husseini

Green · U.S. House, Maryland District 4
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How this mark works

We track key votes on sending U.S. weapons and money to the government of Israel. A check means every tracked vote they cast came down against sending more, on the side of peace and de-escalation. A question mark means a mixed record: they sided with sending up to half of the time. An X means they voted to send more weapons and money in over half of their tracked votes, even as the way those weapons and dollars were being used became more and more obvious. At exactly half, money this election cycle from a lobbying group we track, or an endorsement from a group that backs sending weapons, makes it an X. Only votes actually cast are counted. Where a candidate has no recorded votes on these bills, the mark comes instead from a reviewed reading of their public record (money from the lobbying groups we track, endorsements, and their own words since January 26, 2024). There an X also covers fully backing the conduct of the war by the government of Israel without significant reservations, and a question mark also covers speaking about Israel without saying clearly where they stand on U.S. weapons and funding. A dash means No Position Found: we found nothing in their own words about Israel, Gaza or the war.

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Two reviewers, reading the public record as a whole, agree: His campaign platform calls for stopping all funding to Israel and he repeatedly calls the war in Gaza a genocide that U.S. tax dollars and weapons pay for, with nothing pointing the other way. Reviewed by hand on 2026-10-01. This candidate has no recorded tracked floor votes.

Husseini’s platform reads “Stop genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, all funding to apartheid Israel”. His August 2026 launch statement calls tax dollars sent to the government of Israel “money which should be going to building up schools, hospitals and housing here at home”. Nothing located on U.S. aid to Palestinians.

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Deep Dive

Sam Husseini is the Green Party nominee in Maryland’s 4th District. He is a journalist who has spent more than 25 years at the Institute for Public Accuracy, a Washington nonprofit that offers progressive experts to reporters as sources, and he has lived in the district for more than 20 years. State officials certified him for the November 3 ballot in September 2026; he faces Representative Glenn Ivey and the Republican George McDermott. He has never held office, so there are no votes on this record.

His position is to end U.S. funding for the government of Israel, and he states it in money terms. His campaign platform lists “Stop genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, all funding to apartheid Israel” and “Fund schools and hospitals here, not bombing them in Gaza or anywhere else”. Its first plank, Peace Means Affordability, opens: “The government is using our tax dollars to fund Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and Israel’s war on Iran and Lebanon. We supply costly high tech weapons to kill tens of thousands of civilians, destroying homes, schools, and hospitals. Instead, we should be building and repairing our own fraying infrastructure right here in Maryland.” His August 13, 2026 launch statement makes the same case, saying the two major parties are “sending our tax dollars to imperial Israel to destroy schools, hospitals, and housing in Gaza – money which should be going to building up schools, hospitals and housing here at home”.

He calls the war in Gaza a genocide, and much of his public record is confronting officials over it. At Antony Blinken’s last briefing as Secretary of State in January 2025, the Forward reports that he was removed by security guards while asking, “Everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ say Israel’s doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process?” In July 2026 he stood up during Senator Chuck Schumer’s speech at a National Press Club event and, by his own transcript, asked: “how can you talk about corruption when you back genocide? What could be more corrupt than backing genocide?” In his October 2026 Ballotpedia answers he wrote: “The US government -- both Biden and Trump -- supported Israel while it has slaughtered Palestinians in Gaza. Officials should be held accountable.”

He campaigns against the incumbent over lobbying money. His platform calls Ivey Glenn “AIPAC” Ivey, after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying organization that works for close ties between the United States and Israel. That is a statement about how Ivey was elected, and his position on what the United States sends is the one above.

Nothing located has him addressing U.S. humanitarian aid for Palestinians, such as funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, as a question of its own. His statements on weapons cargo carried on passenger flights, on the arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, and on free speech are on his research page.

In their words

“Stop genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, all funding to apartheid Israel”
Source ↗, 2026-10-06
“The government is using our tax dollars to fund Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and Israel’s war on Iran and Lebanon. We supply costly high tech weapons to kill tens of thousands of civilians, destroying homes, schools, and hospitals. Instead, we should be building and repairing our own fraying infrastructure right here in Maryland.”
Source ↗, 2026-10-06
“Not only are they sending our tax dollars to imperial Israel to destroy schools, hospitals, and housing in Gaza – money which should be going to building up schools, hospitals and housing here at home”
Source ↗, 2026-08-13
“Fund schools and hospitals here, not bombing them in Gaza or anywhere else”
Source ↗, 2026-10-06
“The US government -- both Biden and Trump -- supported Israel while it has slaughtered Palestinians in Gaza. Officials should be held accountable.”
Source ↗, 2026-10-01
“Everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ say Israel’s doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process?”
Source ↗, 2025-01-16
“how can you talk about corruption when you back genocide? What could be more corrupt than backing genocide?”
Source ↗, 2026-07-30
“The establishment parties have made our country more of an empire, backing imperial Israel’s genocide, unconstitutionally attacking Yemen, Iran and Venezuela and now we’re looking at $1.5 trillion of our taxes a year on war.”
Source ↗, 2026-10-06

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

Every page below was opened and read on 2026-10-06 unless the entry says otherwise. His campaign site was read in full: the home page, the about page, the issues page (which carries his platform and his answers to three voter guides), the press page with its one linked release, and the supporters page. His Ballotpedia page and Candidate Connection answers were read in full, along with his newsletter at husseini.substack.com and the outside reports our research pointed at. He has held no office, so none of the congressional votes this site tracks is his, and no funding from the committees this site tracks is recorded on this record. Bands: Position (2024-01-26 onward), Reaction window (2023-10-07 to 2024-01-25), Earlier record (before 2023-10-07), Undated. Pages that carry no date of their own are recorded on the date we read them.

U.S. military aid and weapons to the government of Israel

  • [Position; the page is undated and was read 2026-10-06] His campaign platform opens with a list of thirteen points. Two of them read “Stop genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, all funding to apartheid Israel” and “Fund schools and hospitals here, not bombing them in Gaza or anywhere else”. The first plank of the platform below it, headed “Peace Means Affordability”, reads: “The government is using our tax dollars to fund Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and Israel’s war on Iran and Lebanon. We supply costly high tech weapons to kill tens of thousands of civilians, destroying homes, schools, and hospitals. Instead, we should be building and repairing our own fraying infrastructure right here in Maryland.” The plank continues on the war with Iran and the military budget.
  • [Position, 2026-08-13] His launch statement, published on his newsletter and as a video: “The genocide-enabling Republican and Democratic Party establishments must be confronted at every turn and on every front.” And: “Not only are they sending our tax dollars to imperial Israel to destroy schools, hospitals, and housing in Gaza – money which should be going to building up schools, hospitals and housing here at home —”. The sentence continues that backing Israel has made the United States “more of a empire and even less of a democracy”.
  • [Position; the page is undated and was read 2026-10-06] The same issues page carries his answers to Maryland Stance on Science and to the local paper The Banner. Answering Stance on Science on science education, he wrote of “increasing the funding for military, and sending billions of our tax dollars to genocidal Israel to destory schools” (the spelling is his). Answering The Banner on the federal budget, he wrote: “Over half of the discretionary federal budget goes to the Department of War and other military spending.”
  • [Position, 2026-09-17] His campaign release on United Airlines, responding to reports that the airline had resumed carrying military-related cargo to Israel on passenger flights: “This highlights the continued Israeli carnage in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and the Iran war. This also highlights the role of corporate power.” Most of the release is about corporate power rather than about what the United States sends. A community radio station in Eugene published a recorded version of the same remarks, dated 2026-09-19 in the page’s metadata.
  • Nothing located from him about any specific bill, amendment, arms sale, the memorandum of understanding or the Foreign Military Financing Program by name. His platform’s word is “all funding”, which is broader than military aid.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

  • Nothing located, at any date. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, humanitarian funding for Gaza and the aid pipeline appear nowhere on his campaign site, in his Ballotpedia answers or in the newsletter posts read for this card.

Characterization of the conflict

  • [Position, 2026-10-01] His Ballotpedia Candidate Connection answers, submitted October 1, 2026: “The US government -- both Biden and Trump -- supported Israel while it has slaughtered Palestinians in Gaza. Officials should be held accountable.”
  • [Position; the page is undated and was read 2026-10-06] His answer to the League of Women Voters, as published on his own site, on the United States’ role in the world: “The establishment parties have made our country more of an empire, backing imperial Israel’s genocide, unconstitutionally attacking Yemen, Iran and Venezuela and now we’re looking at $1.5 trillion of our taxes a year on war.” The answer ends: “Demilitarize and abide by the law.”
  • [Position, 2025-01-16] The Forward’s report of Antony Blinken’s final press briefing as Secretary of State says Husseini called out questions about Israel’s nuclear weapons, its conduct in Gaza and the genocide case at the International Court of Justice while security guards removed him, and quotes him: “Everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ say Israel’s doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process? Criminal,” followed three times by “Why aren’t you in the Hague?” TRT World, the Turkish state broadcaster’s English service, reports the same words as “Criminal! Why aren't you in The Hague?”
  • [Position, 2026-07-30] His own transcript of the National Press Club event at which Senator Chuck Schumer spoke on corruption: “Senator — how can you talk about corruption when you back genocide? What could be more corrupt than backing genocide?” He then read the title of a November 2023 notice from legal groups to members of Congress and said Schumer had “backed genocide to the hilt for years on end.” The Capitol Hill Citizen’s account, published 2026-08-13, describes the same exchange. In his answers on his platform page he writes that the National Press Club then banned him in a letter that called him a “threat to safety”, which he calls false.
  • [Position, 2026-09-24] His campaign release on Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United Nations: “Of course Netanyahu should be arrested while visiting the US. Unfortunately we’re unlikely to see that happen given that so many government officials are complicit in his crimes against humanity.” The release is headed with the date September 17, 2026 and was posted on September 24. It also says “The UN can sanction Israel as it did apartheid South Africa.”
  • [Position; the page is undated and was read 2026-10-06] His campaign’s about page says he has confronted officials, “including at the State Department, on the Gaza genocide”, and that he drafted Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s last published article, “which was on the threat of Israel's nuclear weapons”.
  • [Reaction window, December 2023, described in 2026] His about page says: “He pushed governments to invoke the Genocide Convention against Israel -- which South Africa did in December 2023.” His Ballotpedia answers (2026-10-01) say he “helped lead the campaign” for it and “visited South Africa this year to build on that.” The work described belongs to the weeks after October 7, 2023, so it is recorded here and not on the card.

Israel-related rhetoric and lobbying

  • [Position; the page is undated and was read 2026-10-06] His platform lists “Reject Glenn "AIPAC" Ivey” and, in its plank on the incumbent, says Ivey won the 2022 primary with money from groups including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying organization that works for close ties between the United States and Israel. His answers on the same page cite Track AIPAC, a group that reports on that committee’s political spending, for a figure on Ivey’s support. Those are his claims about another candidate, and the figures are not repeated on his card.
  • [Position, 2026-06-22] His newsletter post “AIPAC Ivey”, written before his campaign, says an activist with a Prince George’s County Palestine group calls Ivey “AIPAC Ivey”, “which is apt.” The post then reproduces a passage from a group called Reverse Canary Mission about Ivey’s votes; that passage is the group’s text, not his.
  • [Position, 2026-08-13] His launch statement: “My Democratic Party opponent, Glenn Ivey, got into Congress with millions in pro-Israel money like AIPAC — and even opposed Obama’s Iran deal.” He says he runs with “an independent party that rejects corporate money and super PACs”.
  • [Position, 2026-10-01] His Ballotpedia answers make the same point about the incumbent and the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.
  • [Position, 2026-07-30] The Jewish News Syndicate’s report of his exploratory committee says he has called Ivey “AIPAC Ivey” and criticized his support for U.S. military aid. It describes him as a Palestinian-Jordanian-American and as senior analyst and communications director at the Institute for Public Accuracy.

Safety and antisemitism (context, not an answer to what America sends)

  • [Position, 2026-09-16] His campaign release on the musician Macklemore: “backing Israel is not only killing innocents and costing us billions but it is the leading threat to the greatest accomplishment of our nation: the First Amendment.” And: “Conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism is a strategy that is intended to dampen legitimate First Amendment-protected speech.” The release faults Ivey’s vote for the Antisemitism Awareness Act in May 2024.
  • [Earlier record, 2023-06-06] The Cradle reported that at a State Department briefing he challenged the department’s special envoy on antisemitism over her criticism of Roger Waters, saying the accusation “is an incredible distortion of what happened.”
  • Nothing located from him on the safety of Jewish or Palestinian communities as a policy question.

What his campaign site says

  • [Undated; read 2026-10-06] The home page carries the line “Working for a world without war while investing in our community.” and links three newsletter posts: his launch statement, “AIPAC Ivey”, and his account of the Schumer exchange.
  • [Undated; read 2026-10-06] The issues page carries the thirteen-point list, a six-plank platform (peace and affordability, education, civil liberties and immigration enforcement, data centers, Medicare for All, and the incumbent), and his full answers to the League of Women Voters, The Banner and Maryland Stance on Science. Most of the answers are domestic.
  • [Undated; read 2026-10-06] The press page lists six releases from September 9 to October 1, 2026 and fourteen interviews and reports from July 30 to September 11, 2026. Only the September 9 release is linked as its own page, and it is about the war with Iran.

The race

  • [Read 2026-10-06] Ballotpedia: “Incumbent Glenn Ivey (D), George McDermott (R), and Sam Husseini (G) are running in the general election for U.S. House Maryland District 4 on November 3, 2026.”
  • [Position, 2026-09-05] Maryland Matters reports that state election officials certified his candidacy that week, along with the Green nominees Moshe Landman in the 6th District and Nancy Wallace in the 8th. It quotes him: “We don’t have the machinery that the establishment parties do”.
  • [Read 2026-10-06] A local voter guide from Montgomery County lists the 4th District’s primary candidates and does not include him.

Places that could not be read, so nothing is claimed from them

  • The Independent Political Report’s article on his campaign launch, at https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2026/08/journalist-sam-husseini-launches-green-party-bid-for-marylands-4th-congressional-district/ . It could not be opened. Our research attributed to it a phrase calling the incumbent a complete tool of lobbying interests; those words appear nowhere in anything of his read for this card.
  • His X account, https://x.com/samhusseini . The profile and its first few posts opened; everything further down needs a signed-in reader.
  • The interviews listed on his press page, including Katie Halper (August 6, 2026), Due Dissidence on the Blinken briefing (August 21, 2026), The Nation (August 20, 2026), Inner City Left (September 3, 2026) and Bad Faith (September 8, 2026). They are audio and video and were not listened to.
  • A Facebook video at https://www.facebook.com/EmoN.TaLukdaR.00/videos/1378752910288585/ , on a page that is not his. Our research cited it for the date of his launch announcement; it was not read here.

Not on the card, and why

  • His work pressing governments to bring the genocide case at the International Court of Justice: the work belongs to the weeks after October 7, 2023, so it is recorded above with its date and not on the card.
  • His arguments about the U.S. war with Iran and the attacks on Yemen and Venezuela, which run through his platform and releases: a different question from what the United States sends to the government of Israel. The deep dive quotes the opening of his platform plank, which names Iran in passing; the front carries nothing on Iran.
  • The casualty figure in his platform plank: quoted in the deep dive as his words; the card front carries no casualty numbers.
  • His figures for the incumbent’s lobby support, and the Reverse Canary Mission passage about the incumbent’s votes: claims about another candidate, and the second is not his text.
  • The United Airlines, Netanyahu and Macklemore releases: real statements of his, kept to the research page because the card carries his position on funding in his own words.
  • His domestic platform on education, surveillance, immigration enforcement, data centers, health care, the incumbent’s stock holdings, 9/11 and pandemic origins: out of scope.

Sources read for this card (address; opened or could not open; date read)

  • https://samhusseini.com/ , https://samhusseini.com/about , https://samhusseini.com/issues , https://samhusseini.com/press , https://samhusseini.com/press-release-sept-9 and https://samhusseini.com/resources (opened; 2026-10-06)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/its-official-im-running-for-congress (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-08-13)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/aipac-ivey (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-06-22)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/video-i-confront-schumer-what-could (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-07-30)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/united-airlines-and-the-amoral-corporation (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-09-17)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/arresting-netanyahu-from-sam-husseini (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-09-24)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/macklemore-controversy-highlights (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-09-16)
  • https://husseini.substack.com/p/interviews-on-israel-journalism-campaign (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-08-21; a list of interviews)
  • https://ballotpedia.org/Sam_Husseini (opened; 2026-10-06; survey submitted 2026-10-01)
  • https://marylandmatters.org/2026/09/05/the-ballot-takes-shape-as-state-officials-certify-a-handful-of-third-party-hopefuls-for-nov-3/ (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-09-05)
  • https://www.jns.org/news/u-s-news/anti-israel-activist-launches-bid-to-unseat-pro-israel-maryland-congressman (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-07-30)
  • https://forward.com/fast-forward/689512/reporters-castigating-israel-and-us-support-ejected-from-blinkens-final-press-briefing/ (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2025-01-16)
  • https://www.trtworld.com/article/18254733 (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2025-01-16)
  • https://kepw-wholecommunity.news/2026/09/18/ipas-sam-husseini-responds-to-reports-of-israeli-military-shipments-on-united-airlines/ (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-09-19)
  • https://capitolhillcitizen.substack.com/p/a-day-at-the-national-press-club (opened; 2026-10-06; published 2026-08-13)
  • https://thecradle.co/articles-id/197 (opened; 2026-10-06; dated 2023-06-07 in the page)
  • https://www.watermelonballot.org/congressional-district-4 (opened; 2026-10-06)
  • https://x.com/samhusseini (the profile and a few posts opened, the rest did not; 2026-10-06)
  • https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2026/08/journalist-sam-husseini-launches-green-party-bid-for-marylands-4th-congressional-district/ (could not open; 2026-10-06)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Husseini (not used; an encyclopedia entry)
  • This is a record of what was checked on 2026-10-06, not a claim that no other statement exists.

Also in this race

  1. ? Glenn Ivey (Democrat)
  2. – George McDermott (Republican)

All Maryland candidates.

But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open Find Your Candidates for votes, funding and contact details.