A coalition of progressive Jewish leaders and Michigan Democrats wrote to former Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday, urging her to challenge Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Jewish safety and Israel during their joint campaign appearance Tuesday. The group, Nonnegotiable Michigan, comprises rabbis, cantors, and community leaders statewide.
The letter acknowledged Harris’s track record on antisemitism but voiced deep concern over El-Sayed’s candidacy, noting he “has had every opportunity to meet our request to support our basic needs” yet “has declined even to respond.” The coalition outlined five core principles for guaranteeing Jewish safety: protections for Zionists, identity rights, Jewish sovereignty in Israel, full political participation, and an affirmative Middle East vision.
Critics Target El-Sayed for Holding Israel Responsible for Michigan Issues
The letter highlighted El-Sayed’s past remarks, including calling Israelis “bloodthirsty,” describing American support for Israel as “purchased loyalty,” blaming Israel for Michigan issues, and rejecting Israel as a Jewish state. The coalition stressed that support “cannot be taken for granted,” writing that “every constituency must occasionally remind its party that support is earned, not owed,” and calling the letter “a good faith effort to make our needs unmistakably clear, and to invite any candidate seeking public office — now or in the future — to engage, listen, learn, and grow.”
Coalition leaders elaborated on these themes at a press conference following the letter’s release. Rabbi Michael Moskowitz of Temple Shir Shalom described widespread family unease, stating, “we have been greatly concerned in the midst of this campaign and the language that we hear being used,” and expressing alarm “when language comes out that is using antisemitic dog whistles, things that have concerned us greatly over the years it worries my community.” He added that congregants felt “homeless right now and not sure where they can turn,” noting his Zionist congregation wants candidates they support to “understand that and appreciate our concerns and what matters to us as a Jewish community.”
Cantor Regina Hayut of Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor echoed these concerns, noting she and many others feel politically homeless. “I’ve been a lifelong Democrat, and I’ve never felt alienated from my party until recently. And I feel like if I just walk away, then I’m giving up so much that I care about,” she said. Hayut called Israel a “safe homeland” and warned that “the rhetoric that’s out there has been demonizing an entire people not just in Israel but here in the United States and here in Michigan.”
Looking beyond the immediate election, Joan Lowenstein, president of the Ann Arbor Jewish Federation, emphasized the ancestral bond to Israel: “Both of these places are my home, and I have always been part of trying to convince people that the Jewish connection to Israel is not a political one. It’s our ancestral home, and it’s the center of 3,000 years of Jewish history.”
‘Judaism and Zionism Cannot Be Separated’
David Kramer, a prominent Democratic fundraiser and community leader, underscored the political and moral imperative for leaders to act, stating, “You can’t untangle Judaism from Zionism,” and that “Jewish people and Zionism are one and the same, you can’t untangle them, and I think some of the efforts by particular candidates, the senate candidate being one of them, to imply that the Jews should be protected but Zionists are on their own is deeply troubling.”
Harris and El-Sayed participated in a Detroit roundtable Tuesday focused on maternal health, reproductive freedom, and Black maternal mortality with healthcare experts and reproductive rights advocates. The recorded session addressed exclusively healthcare and maternal mortality, with neither candidate nor other speakers referencing the letter or controversies surrounding El-Sayed’s prior statements on Israel.
Harris’s office did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
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