Franken, 24+ Jewish Americans Back El-Sayed in Michigan Senate Race
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 11
Franken, 24+ Jewish Americans Back El-Sayed in Michigan Senate Race
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 11
Summary
An open letter from Al Franken and more than two dozen Jewish Americans endorsed Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, challenging the idea that his Israel criticism has broadly alienated Jewish voters.
The signatories acknowledged concern over El-Sayed’s opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel but said he frames it as a consistent human-rights standard rather than an outlier position.
Eric Schwartz, a former Obama State Department official who organized the letter, said it aimed to rebut what he called incomplete conventional wisdom about Jewish unease with El-Sayed.
The endorsement lands after Jewish leaders circulated a petition demanding El-Sayed support “Jewish sovereignty in Israel,” while some Michigan Jewish Democrats have said they may back Republican Mike Rogers instead.
El-Sayed has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, attacked AIPAC’s spending against him and recently apologized over comments tied to a Michigan synagogue attack.