Dem AG Warns Jewish Democrats Are Being Pushed Out of the Party: ‘Off Putting and Offensive’
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warned her party that they are pushing out Jewish Democrats with their embrace of far-left critics of Israel.
Nessel, who is Jewish, joined David Frum on The Atlantic’s David Frum Show this week, where she cautioned Democrats about growing rhetoric in regards to Jewish members.
“I think it’s a fundamental mistake for the Democratic Party to think that you can just push Jewish Democrats out and simply replace them with any other population,” Nessel said.
According to her, Jewish Democrats are receiving worse treatment in the party than any other minority group amid criticism of Israel’s government and strikes on Gaza.
“When a Black person says that a phrase that you’re using or the way you’re talking about this issue to me is racist, I’d like you to stop doing it — we respect that,” she said.
Nessel argued Jewish Democrats are not taken seriously enough when they point to rhetoric they feel is antisemitic.
“This has been an outlier to me. I have people saying, ‘You are not going to tell us what you deem to be antisemitic. We’ll decide what’s antisemitic. That’s not up for you, the Jewish population, to decide,” she said.
The state attorney general added, “I find that to be very off-putting and offensive. I think that’s totally unacceptable.”
Nessel has taken issue with rhetoric from Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, previously accusing him of making Israel and pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the “central villain” too often.
She once again called out the candidate while speaking to Frum, singling out El-Sayed’s comment after a March attack on a synagogue that “hurt people do hurt.”
“A lot of us perceived that as sort of making excuses for someone that sought to murder over 100 pre-K schoolchildren and that’s the kind of mentality that bothers me a lot,” she said.
El-Sayed has also faced criticism for campaigning with controversial streamer Hasan Piker, who has long faced accusations of antisemitism. El-Sayed has said he doesn’t agree with Piker on all issues, but refused to condemn him. Piker’s latest comments to earn bipartisan backlash come from a stream where he gave a warning to American Jews.
“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” he said.
Watch above via The David Frum Show.
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