Detroit – Jewish leaders in Michigan are preparing to engage with the state’s new senator‑elect, Abdul El‑Sayed, even as a number of organizations voice lingering concerns about his past statements on Israel.
Unified outreach from the Jewish Federation
Steven Ingber, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, told Fox News Digital, “We congratulate all the winners, and we will work with all the winners. The Jewish voice and Jewish vote is not monolithic, meaning we have people who voted on every side of the aisle on all the races up and down the ballot. And the beauty of being a 501(c)(3) is we don’t get to take an opinion and we just get to work with whoever then is elected.”
The Federation, a tax‑exempt 501(c)(3) organization, is prohibited from endorsing candidates but routinely collaborates with officials across the political spectrum to protect and support Michigan’s Jewish communities.
Past criticism and recent apologies
During his campaign, El‑Sayed faced criticism from Jewish leaders over his stance on Israel and his response to the March 12, 2026 attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. After the incident, the senator‑elect said, “Hurt people, hurt people,” a comment many interpreted as justifying the violence. He later apologized, explaining that his words “might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify.”
Strategic perspectives from Democratic operatives
Democratic strategist Julian Epstein warned that inconsistent opposition to bigotry could alienate Jewish voters. “If you believe in civil rights, pluralism, and dignity for all, you can’t fight bigotry for one group and ignore it for another,” he said, adding that El‑Sayed’s victory could prompt a shift among Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party.
Epstein predicted, “There’s no question that Jewish voters are going to start leaving the Democratic Party. They should. Why stay with a party that tolerates hate directed at you?”
American Jewish Committee’s mixed response
The American Jewish Committee’s Detroit chapter acknowledged the historic nature of El‑Sayed’s election as the first Muslim senator but expressed concern over what it described as “continued anti‑Israel rhetoric that alienates countless Jewish Michiganders.” The AJC statement noted that while the milestone reflects American democracy, the senator‑elect’s remarks in his victory speech suggested an “obsessive hostility toward Israel.”
Call for unity against antisemitism
Ingber emphasized that antisemitism is an American problem, not a partisan one. “We have antisemitism coming at us from both sides, from the far‑left, from the far‑right. Neither is better, neither is worse,” he said. “Antisemitism isn’t a Jewish problem, it’s an American problem.” He urged Jewish Americans to remain active in public life despite rising hostility.
The senator‑elect’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
