Former Minnesota Senator Al Franken and more than two dozen other Jewish Americans have endorsed Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, whose sharp criticism of Israel has alarmed some Jewish voters and community leaders, the Washington Post reported.
The open letter was organized by Eric Schwartz, a former State Department official in the Obama administration. Its signers include former Michigan congressman Andy Levin and several former officials from Democratic administrations, among them Mort Halperin, Michael Posner, Josh Gotbaum and Barnett Rubin, according to Just the News. The letter praises El-Sayed's belief that government can be a force for good.
The endorsement comes as Michigan's Jewish community remains deeply divided over the race. Last week, more than a dozen rabbis, cantors and Jewish lay leaders launched a campaign called Nonnegotiable Michigan, calling on El-Sayed and the Democratic Party to commit to a set of principles on Jewish safety and Israel. The campaign was created with the liberal Jewish group Zioness Action Fund. Its organizers accuse El-Sayed and his surrogates of a sustained pattern of rhetoric that they say crosses into antisemitism, according to Jewish Insider.
The petition does not name El-Sayed, but its organizers have said he is its intended audience. The coalition says it represents 40,000 Jewish voters in the state.
Rabbi Josh Whinston of Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, one of the campaign's leaders, said at its launch that describing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as "bloodthirsty" plays into antisemitic stereotypes. Whinston said he was not asking El-Sayed to abandon his views, but to broaden his tent.
Rabbi Aaron Starr, president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that El-Sayed's recent apology for past remarks was only a partial one.
Other Jewish leaders in Michigan have gone further, urging the community to reject El-Sayed and vote for his Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary last month over Rep. Haley Stevens. During the race, he attacked the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, campaigned with the anti-Israel streamer Hasan Piker, and drew criticism for his response to the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, in which he said that "hurt people hurt people." He has since met with Jewish community leaders and apologized for comments some found hurtful. Stevens and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have endorsed him since the primary.
Jewish voters make up about 1.4% of Michigan's electorate, but the race is being closely watched as a test of how the Democratic Party handles its divisions over Israel. It could also decide control of the Senate.
