Jewish Democrat Dana Nessel tells Jewish voters in Michigan not to back Republicans despite accusations of antisemitism against Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, says Jews are obligated to put “the rest of humanity” above their “own survival.”
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told Jewish Democrats that they face a “moral imperative” in November to consider issues beyond their own security and concerns over Israel, as deep divisions over Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed continue to roil the party’s Jewish base.
Nessel, who is Jewish, delivered the remarks Sunday at the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus’ annual “Summer Simcha” gathering in Birmingham, where she was being honored.
The speech came just one day after she skipped the state Democratic Party convention because of concerns that she would be harassed over her views on Israel.
“Come November, what do your Jewish values tell you to do?” Nessel asked the gathering, according to a recording of the speech.
She acknowledged that some Jewish Democrats feel alienated by members of their own party, saying it was easy to resent Democrats who appeared to have “thrown us under the bus.”
But Nessel argued that Jewish voters could not base their decisions solely on concerns about Israel, antisemitism or their own safety.
“We have a moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest and, yes, even our own survival,” she said.
Invoking the biblical story of Queen Esther, Nessel said Jewish Democrats might be called upon to sacrifice their own sense of security for what she portrayed as a broader obligation to society.
“It is perhaps up to us now to follow in her path,” Nessel said, before speaking of sacrificing security for “the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.”
Nessel pointed to climate change, artificial intelligence, nuclear war and economic inequality as issues she said voters must weigh alongside Israel and Jewish security.
She asked what purpose there would be in defending Israel if “the planet upon which it rests is no longer inhabitable.”
Her remarks did not explicitly endorse El-Sayed, who narrowly won the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open US Senate seat and now faces Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. Nessel has so far withheld an endorsement of El-Sayed, despite making clear that she does not intend to support Rogers.
The speech nevertheless came as El-Sayed was making an intensive effort to repair relations with Jewish Democrats who have objected to his positions on Israel and his response to a March terrorist attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township.
El-Sayed appeared at the same Birmingham gathering and apologized for remarks he made following the synagogue attack.
After the March assault, El-Sayed condemned the violence but also said “hurt people hurt people” while discussing the attacker’s family connections to casualties of Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
Critics accused him of offering a justification for anti-Jewish terrorism.
El-Sayed has also faced criticism over his relationship with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who supported his candidacy during the Democratic primary.
Piker has generated repeated controversy over comments concerning Israel and American Jews, and El-Sayed has resisted demands from some Democrats that he completely disavow the streamer.
The disputes have placed Michigan’s Jewish Democrats in an unusually difficult position ahead of an election that could help determine control of the Senate.
Michigan has roughly 100,000 Jewish voters, most of whom have historically supported Democrats.
Those divisions were visible at Sunday’s gathering.
Troy Zukowski-Serlin, a member of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus board, said he planned to vote for Rogers despite his affiliation with the Democratic organization.
“It’s signed, sealed and delivered with me,” he said. His wife, Michelle Zukowski-Serlin, said she planned to write in Nessel rather than support either Senate nominee.
Nessel herself has become increasingly outspoken about antisemitism and hostility toward pro-Israel Jews within the Democratic Party. In July, she announced she would not attend the party’s August convention, saying she feared being chased, harassed or shouted down.
“I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed,” Nessel said at the time, adding that she believed such treatment was likely if she attended.
Her decision prompted nearly 200 Michigan rabbis and Jewish community figures to sign a petition demanding that Democratic officials guarantee the safety of Jewish delegates at the convention.
Nessel acknowledged Sunday that the conflict had left some Jewish Democrats feeling they were being forced to choose “between our faith and our party.” She also sharply criticized Democrats who reject Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state, describing the November election as a “stark choice” for Jewish voters.
Despite those concerns, Nessel said that Jewish voters should not allow their anger over far-left attacks on Israel or concerns over antisemitism within the Democratic Party to become the sole factor determining their ballots.
“I think it’s so easy for people to lash out at what they perceive are direct attacks on their faith,” she said after the speech. “I just hope that people will consider that there are many other factors at play.”
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