Addressing deep intra-party divides over Israel ahead of the general election, Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel urged a private gathering of Jewish Democrats to place the needs of “the rest of humanity” above their own “safety and security.”
Nessel, Michigan’s top law enforcement officer who is also Jewish, made the remarks during an Aug. 30 event in Birmingham hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus, where members of the press were barred. According to a video recording reviewed by The Detroit News, Nessel invoked the story of Queen Esther to argue that Jewish Democrats have a “moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest,” urging attendees to “sacrifice the comfort, safety and security and even the very future of our own people in exchange for the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.”
The comments highlight a boiling point for Democrats in crucial battleground Michigan, where many Jewish voters report feeling forced to choose between their faith and their party amid rising anti-Israel rhetoric from progressive, far-left candidates.Â
The private gathering was attended by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed â a vocal critic of Israel and U.S. military aid to the Jewish state â who used the event to publicly apologize to the Jewish Caucus for past controversial comments. Notably, Nessel has publicly stated she will not vote for Republican Mike Rogers in the tight Senate race, but has thus far withheld her endorsement from El-Sayed over concerns regarding his stance on Israel.
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During the speech, Nessel explicitly weighed the survival of against global crises, including questioning the value of protecting the Jewish state if climate change goes unaddressed.
“What good is defending the historic homeland of our ancestors and demanding that candidates acknowledge its right to exist if the planet upon which it rests is no longer inhabitable?” Nessel asked, according to the recording reviewed by The Detroit News. She went on to characterize supporting former President as an “abdication of our responsibilities as Jews,” arguing that Jewish tradition demands “compassionate action toward others” over what she called “blind obedience to the world’s biggest and most dangerous fool.”
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While Nessel acknowledged the frustration in the roomânoting that arguments equating Zionism to racism are often made “by people whose entire understanding of fits neatly into a 47-second TikTok produced by Qatar or Iran” â she also argued that the GOP and its loyalty to Trump poses a great threat and blasted Republicans for focusing on cultural issues like “transgender girls playing JV volleyball” instead of issues like wealth inequality and artificial intelligence.
Fox News Digital reached out to Nessel’s office to ask for more details about the intended effect of her remarks, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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“Michigan Attorney General</