A coalition of Michigan rabbis and Jewish leaders is launching a petition drive for the state’s Jewish voters to warn Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee, that they will withhold support for him if he does not change some of his positions and rhetoric on Israel.
The petition, whose first signatories include the president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis and 14 of his colleagues, comes a month after Dr. El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, won a hard-fought primary against a pro-Israel rival in a state that could decide control of the Senate in November. Frictions from that contest have lingered, complicating Dr. El-Sayed’s attempts to pivot to the general election.
The letter, which does not mention Dr. El-Sayed by name but is directed at him, organizers said, makes five “nonnegotiable” demands of candidates seeking office in Michigan. The authors describe themselves and “the vast majority of the American Jewish community” as supporters of the Democratic Party.
Among them: agreeing to support “Jewish sovereignty in Israel,” backing a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, and welcoming “full participation in American political life” for Jews.
Dr. El-Sayed has said he opposes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, angering many Jewish leaders. He also has drawn their ire by frequently framing his primary campaign against Representative Haley Stevens as a fight against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has spent more than $28 million to oppose him through its super PAC. “Legalized bribery at its worst,” Dr. El-Sayed wrote on social media in July in response to spending from the group.
The petition is a fresh indicator of unresolved tensions between Dr. El-Sayed and Jewish leaders as he takes on the Republican Senate nominee, former Representative Mike Rogers. Dr. El-Sayed has taken some steps since the primary to try to repair his relationship with Michigan Jews, including meeting with rabbis and apologizing for saying that “hurt people hurt people” after a Lebanese-born American citizen drove a truck into a suburban Detroit synagogue in March. The reception has been mixed.
“We’re right now in our season of repentance, and we talk about how one says, ‘I’m sorry,’” said Rabbi Aaron Starr, the president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, who added that he would speak about the petition at his synagogue during services for the upcoming High Holy Days. “Dr. El-Sayed took an important step forward, but just not far enough.”
A spokeswoman for Dr. El-Sayed declined to comment on the letter after it was read to her.
Rabbi Starr and Rabbi Josh Whinston, who leads a congregation in Ann Arbor, where Dr. El-Sayed lives, spoke in a joint interview on Monday in advance of the release of their petition on Tuesday morning.
The two rabbis, who said they do not endorse political candidates for office, both characterized their congregations as predominantly Democratic but torn over their options in Michigan’s Senate race. Rabbi Starr said he had not spoken with Dr. El-Sayed since the primary; Rabbi Whinston said he had met privately with the candidate, but he declined to reveal details of the conversation.
The Democratic Senate primary featured frequent clashes over Israel and AIPAC that at times became sharply personal. Ms. Stevens, who has since endorsed Dr. El-Sayed, said before the primary that “everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”
Dr. El-Sayed has said he hopes to use his Senate perch to change the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel. He has called the Israeli government evil and campaigned on a platform of reversing longstanding U.S. policy toward Israel.
Dr. El-Sayed’s relationship with Hasan Piker, a provocative streamer who recently drew criticism from both parties when he suggested that Jewish Americans could face threats because of their positions on Israel, has also prompted complaints from Jewish leaders, who have said they want to see a more forceful denouncement of him. Dr. El-Sayed, who campaigned with Mr. Piker during the primary, recently said he had no plans to appear with Mr. Piker in the general election.
“I was very disappointed in the primary season in particular that so many politicians and pundits and podcasters seem to single out Israel and American supporters of Israel for criticism,” Rabbi Starr said.
That criticism, he said, “felt like a dog whistle for people to turn against American Jews.”
Dr. El-Sayed has sought to mend ties with Michigan’s Jewish community since the primary. His apology about his “hurt people” remark came during an address to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, and again at a fund-raiser for the group the next day. “There’s opportunity for context later on, but when you give the wrong — the right medicine at the wrong time, it’s the wrong medicine,” he said at the fund-raiser.
Zach Nessel, the secretary of the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus whose mother is the state attorney general, said last week that Dr. El-Sayed’s “apology didn’t go far enough.”
Michigan is one of a handful of battlegrounds that will determine which party controls the Senate next year. Senator Gary Peters is retiring after two terms. Democrats need Dr. El-Sayed to hold the seat against Mr. Rogers, the Republican nominee backed by President Trump who has long been a supporter of Israel.
“American Jews are feeling homeless,” Rabbi Whinston said. “Many of us are feeling homeless and want to make sure that we are still at that table as part of the coalition that we helped build.”
Rabbi Starr said he would not invite Dr. El-Sayed to speak to his congregation. Rabbi Whinston said the candidate could not speak to his congregation, but that he would be welcome to attend services.
“He is potentially the next senator from the state of Michigan,” Rabbi Whinston said. “I believe in conversation and engagement.”
Both rabbis said they would like to see Dr. El-Sayed reverse course on some of his most anti-Israel positions. Rabbi Whinston said he would like Dr. El-Sayed to drop his opposition to the U.S. providing defensive military weapons to Israel. Rabbi Starr said that Dr. El-Sayed must alter the language he uses to speak about Israel in order for Jews to feel safe.
The petition the rabbis are circulating makes specific references to statements Dr. El-Sayed has made during his campaign. In a July interview with The New York Times, he responded to a question about whether he believed Israel should exist as a Jewish state: “I don’t believe in ethno-states.”
The petition suggests that objections to “ethno-states” amount to an effort to erase Israel from the map.
“We reject cleverly worded arguments advanced to return the Jewish people to statelessness and powerlessness — a position that a supermajority of Jews everywhere recognize as genocidal,” the petition says.
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