Rabbis urge El-Sayed to affirm Jewish rights ahead of Obama visit

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(The Center Square) – A growing coalition of Jewish leaders are calling on Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to reaffirm Jewish rights and safety.

This comes as former President Barack Obama heads to Michigan this weekend to campaign for El-Sayed.

More than 200 rabbis from across the nation signed on to a letter from the Nonnegotiable Michigan coalition appealing to Obama and El-Sayed to reaffirm that Zionist Jews belong in the Democratic coalition.

Rabbi David Ingber, founding rabbi of Romemu and senior director of Jewish Life at 92NY in New York City, was among the rabbis who signed the letter. He spoke exclusively with The Center Square.

“I signed because Jewish safety and Jewish belonging. I believe those things should be taken seriously by anyone who is asking for the public's trust,” Ingber said. “He needs to affirm the five basic commitments that we wrote out in the letter.”

The letter was spearheaded by the recently-launched group Nonnegotiable Michigan, whose statewide campaign outlines five “baseline commitments” addressing Jewish “communal needs.”

The commitments address Jewish safety, identity, statehood and political participation. Nonnegotiable Michigan is led by a coalition of Michigan clergy and synagogue lay leaders. In its letter to El-Sayed, the coalition emphasized that the commitments extend beyond this election.

“These are not special demands of you alone, and they do not expire on Election Day, it said. “They are the standard that any Democrat, candidate or elected official must meet to earn our communities’ trust and votes—this year, in 2028, and beyond.”

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—statements Ingber called "very hurtful."

"There's a clear path toward rebuilding trust with us," he said of the commitments. "If he wants to rebuild trust, that would satisfy all of us."

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.”

Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz, senior rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in New Jersey, also signed on to the letter. He spoke exclusively with The Center Square about why he thought it was important, explaining that El-Sayed’s candidacy reflects a growing concern from American Jews.

“The Democrats in my congregation really feel politically homeless,” he said. “Democratic Jews are being ostracized in those circles because of their support of the state of Israel, and that just seems like an untenable position.”

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

1. Jewish safety, including for Zionist Jews, is nonnegotiable—in Michigan and across America.

2. Jewish statehood in Israel is nonnegotiable. The Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland is not up for debate, even when its politics are.

3. Jews, and Jews alone, define Jewish identity. No political movement may decide who counts as an authentic or a “good” or “bad” Jew.

4. Zionist Jews must be welcome as full participants in the Democratic Party and in American political life.

5. Palestinian aspirations for safety, dignity and freedom must be pursued alongside Israel, not in place of it.

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

Ingber said they are hopeful Obama will use his "enormous influence" on the Democratic coalition.

“We are also asking him to use that influence to affirm Jewish belonging and Jewish self determination and Palestinian freedom and belonging,” he said. “All those things belong together. President Obama's presence creates an opportunity for that clarity.”

In just 11 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 among the nation’s most closely watched Senate contests, with control of the 120th Congress hanging in the balance.

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.

Currently, experts consider the outcome of the race likely Democrat, while betting markets give El-Sayed a 69% chance of winning.

The polling in the U.S. Senate race marks a shift from before the primary, when Rogers held the advantage over El-Sayed. Now, the most-recent polling has El-Sayed leading Rogers 48.6% to 45.2%.

That is according to the average of the five most recent polls compiled by 270toWin, with the most-recent posted on Oct. 21. The gap has widened in El-Sayed’s favor as time has passed since the Aug. 4 primary.

Absentee ballots have already begun going out across Michigan, and early in-person voting is set to begin on Saturday.