Jewish Democrat Straight Up Asks Abdul El-Sayed if There’s Still ‘Space’ for People Like Her in Party

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) officially threw her support behind Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) on Tuesday, despite recently calling him out for making Israel the “central villain” in his public gripes.

But Nessel said she needed an answer straight from the horse’s mouth before backing him: does El-Sayed want Jewish Zionists like herself in the Democratic Party? She asked him the question during a joint interview on the For the Sake of Argument Podcast.

“This is the conversation that I need to have with you right now, in that a lot of Jewish Democrats are in this position — is there space for a Jewish Zionist like myself, is there space for us in the big tent of the Democratic Party?” Nessel asked. “Do we still belong in the Democratic Party? We need to know that.”

El-Sayed answered:

So look, I believe in a big tent, and there are Democrats who are going to believe different things about different issues, Israel being one of them. And I am committed to having a tent where we march in lockstep on the 95% of things we agree on, and where we continue to have the conversation in that tent about the spaces where we disagree. So, yes.

And I will also say that it is critical for people to have the belief in our democracy, they have the right to advocate for what they believe in peaceably, and without risk of violence, regardless of what it is. And we can disagree, but we have that debate in public.

Nessel then said many Jewish Democrats have wondered whether their votes “matter” to El-Sayed. The progressive candidate said those votes are important to him, even if they disagree on “one really important issue.”

About 10 minutes later in the pod, Nessel confirmed she would back El-Sayed against Republican Mike Rogers.

“Yes, I’ll be voting for Abdul,” Nessel said. “We have one candidate that I know is going to fight against the Trump administration; who is going to fight to protect both our physical security, our safety, our health and our futures.”

Her endorsement comes after she skipped the Democratic state convention in July due to fears of an anti-Semitic attack. And during an MS NOW interview the following month, Nessel urged El-Sayed to “tone down” his rhetoric on Israel.

“And what I mean by that is, AIPAC — which many of us do not support or agree with — and Israel, with many of us who do not support or agree with their government or the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu, they cannot be the central villain in literally every story,” she said.

Her remark followed El-Sayed routinely bashing Israel during his successful bid to win Michigan’s Democratic primary. El-Sayed claimed Israel was just as “evil” as Hamas during an April appearance on CNN, and he accused AIPAC of “legalized bribery” by giving to his primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). He has also tried to distance himself from socialist streamer Hasan Piker, after he has been questioned about Piker’s claim the USA “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. 

His answers on Tuesday apparently satisfied Nessel. But she said she couldn’t “even consider” Rogers because of her values, and because the Republican was nothing more than a suck up to President Donald Trump.

“I don’t want to say the choice is easy,” she continued. “But I am going to say that there is no choice, and that’s why I’m supporting Abdul for the U.S. Senate.”

Watch above.

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