Growing number of Michigan Jewish leaders press El-Sayed to sign commitments

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(The Center Square) – More prominent Jewish political leaders are joining a growing Michigan coalition calling on Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to sign on to five commitments addressing concerns over Jewish safety and political participation.

Spearheaded by the recently-launched group Nonnegotiable Michigan, the five commitments address what the statewide campaign calls “baseline commitments” for Jewish “communal needs.”

Announced this morning, the coalition informed The Center Square ahead of its announcement that 17 Michigan Democratic leaders would be joining the effort. The leaders include:

• Mark Bernstein - Regent at University of Michigan

• David Kramer - Vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus

• Rep. Noah Arbit - State representative from West Bloomfield and the founder of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus

In a statement making the announcement, the coalition said it wants to distinguish its demands from debates over Israel and foreign policy

“This campaign is not about Israel policy, weapons, wars, or foreign aid,” Nonnegotiable Michigan said. “Nonnegotiable is about the safety and belonging of American Jews – including Zionist Jews— – n Michigan, across America and in the Democratic Party.”

The commitments address Jewish safety, identity, statehood and political participation. Nonnegotiable Michigan, which is led by a coalition of Michigan clergy and synagogue lay leaders whose congregations represent about 40,000 Jewish Michiganders, describes them as “not an ultimatum, but an invitation.”

The group is calling on Jewish voters and allies to sign the petition, which was launched amid bipartisan scrutiny of El-Sayed’s past statements. The controversy has become part of a broader debate over antisemitism and the state of the Democratic Party in Michigan, which some are describing as a “crisis.”

In an exclusive interview, Rabbi Josh Whinston, a leading progressive Reform rabbi at Temple Beth Emeth who helped write the commitments, Whinston said he felt compelled to speak out after recent comments from the Democrat.

“I heard Dr. El-Sayed use anti-Semitic language and dog whistles more than I could tolerate,” Whinston told The Center Square. “For the sake of the safety of my own community, I needed to step up and say something.”

Whinston said the coalition is made up of progressives who are not looking to switch parties, but instead want to remain politically at home in the Democratic Party.

“We are not interested in electing Mike Rogers,” Whinston said of El-Sayed’s Republican opponent. “I got into this because the Democratic Party is my political home. It is the political home for the vast majority, upwards of 70% of American Jews, and increasingly American Jews are feeling displaced and politically homeless.”

The coalition, which first launched early this month, said that the five commitments are intended to ensure Jewish Michiganders can participate in political life, particularly within the Democratic Party, without having to renounce beliefs central to their Jewish identity.

Nonnegotiable Michigan is urging El-Sayed and Democratic Party leaders to affirm:

1. Jewish safety, including the safety of Zionist Jews, is nonnegotiable.

2. The right of Jews to define their own identities is nonnegotiable.

3. Jewish sovereignty in Israel is nonnegotiable.

4. The full participation of Jews, including Zionist Jews, in American political life is nonnegotiable.

5. An affirmative vision for a better future for the Middle East is nonnegotiable.

Since the Sept. 8 request, Nonnegotiable Michigan said El-Sayed and his campaign have made “no public comment . . . affirming these urgent, objectively reasonable requests from Jewish Democratic voters.”

The campaign also has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Center Square.

In 35 days, El-Sayed will face off against the Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, though Michigan voters have already begun receiving absentee ballots.

The race is considered one of the most-important U.S. Senate races in the nation and millions of dollars are pouring into it from both sides of the aisle.

Democrats were divided during the primary between El-Sayed and establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. El-Sayed, who is seeking to become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, narrowly won that race. Since then, the Democratic Party establishment has rallied around the 41-year-old.