A group of Michigan rabbis and Jewish leaders who earlier urged Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to address concerns among them and their congregants regarding antisemitism and violence are asking former Vice President Kamala Harris to take up their cause with the candidate.
The group, which calls itself Nonnegotiable Michigan, wrote an open letter
to Harris dated Sept. 22, as she was set to visit Michigan that day to campaign with El-Sayed.Earlier in September, the group of rabbis and Jewish leaders had asked El-Sayed, who is Muslim and the son of Egyptian immigrants, to "affirm five baseline commitments to Jewish safety, identity, political participation and self-determination" among Jews in Israel, raising concerns that his criticisms
and those of others of Israeli policies have strayed into antisemitic tropes and raised the potential for the threat of violence against the Jewish people.
El-Sayed has repeatedly denounced political or religious violence of any kind and antisemitism specifically. But he has been critical of Israeli policies against the Palestinian people and in its counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza following the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He has repeatedly called for cutting U.S. funding to Israel.
Harris, who ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, remained supportive of U.S. aid to Israel, though she committed to try to end the fighting in Gaza. El-Sayed, despite his criticism of Israel, endorsed Harris after she stepped in to run in place of then-President Joe Biden.
In the letter, the group noted that Harris "never asked us to choose between our commitment to social justice and our Jewish safety or identity" and that she and her husband, who is Jewish, "led the efforts to produce the first-ever national strategy to combat antisemitism." They said their pleas to El-Sayed, on the other hand, have "been met with silence."
"We believe he needs to be urged by Democratic Party leaders who understand that Jews have been one of the strongest, most committed voting blocs in the Democratic coalition; and by someone who understands that a Democratic Party that is not safe for Jews will not be able to protect our democracy," the letter said.
The Jewish community in Michigan has been split, however, on El-Sayed's candidacy and his criticism of Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
While some Jewish Democrats have talked openly about voting for Republicanformer U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in the Nov. 3 election, others have defended El-Sayed, including progressive Jewish voters, at least one of whom called the earlier Nonnegotiable Michigan letter an "insult," as more mainstream Democrats have coalesced around El-Sayed's candidacy. Another 600 Michigan Jewish voters signed a letter pledging to support El-Sayed.
El-Sayed's campaign announced that Harris was expected to join him on Tuesday, Sept. 22, for a roundtable discussion about maternal health issues for Black women. No other details had been immediately provided about the time and place of the event.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rabbis ask Kamala Harris to talk to Abdul El-Sayed about their concerns
