79 Days to Go:  El-Sayed’s Nomination in Michigan

 Jonathan Tobin, the editor of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate), posted an article over the weekend entitled, “The Michigan Primary and the Normalization of Antisemitism” to which I take exception to his conclusions.

In it, based on Dr. Abdul El-Saed’s victory in last week’s Democratic Party’s US Senate primary, he posits that: “Democrats have given a person whose most important issue was demonizing Jewish participation in American politics a narrow plurality. By rallying around him and unifying behind his candidacy, as the defeated party establishment has already done, they are normalizing a hateful position against a segment of citizenry. They are declaring that politics driven by traditional tropes of antisemitism and money is not merely debatable, but a stand they can all get behind if it means winning a majority in the US Senate.”

There is no question that those who voted in the Michigan primary chose not only to accept the vilification of the six million American Jews as an acceptable political position but also agreed to make him their candidate of choice in the November election.  Yet these are two very different things.

For sure, the fact that normalizing the demeaning of a significant portion of the US population either because they are Jewish, because they support Israel, or both, should be a warning sign to every American citizen that the key elements of the country’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution are being trampled upon and torn asunder.

History has shown that what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews.  Every minority group in the US should now be fighting tooth and nail objecting to this downward spiral into racism which, if left unchecked, will eventually destroy the very fiber of America’s mutual respect of, and tolerance for, the “other.”

Fortunately, I believe there remain significant elements of American society that find this development in the body politic to be both distasteful and in total opposition to the principles on which the US was founded.   While the trend is, of course, extremely worrisome, many of us hope for and want to believe that this particular position is held by only a small percentage of the society as a whole, which has been energized and financed by outside forces intent on destroying both the US as well as Western civilization.

It is established fact that infinitely massive resources are being spent in the United States by Islamist nations like Qatar to spread and normalize Jew-hatred.  While Qatar does not explicitly earmark funds under the label of “supporting antisemitism,” research organizations, watchdogs, and US congressional reviews state that Qatar has invested between $6.6 billion and $20 billion in American higher education and K-12 schools, creating environments where antisemitic rhetoric and anti-Israel sentiment have significantly spiked

As for the second part of the question, whether Democrats actually selected El-Sayed as their candidate, there are two parts to the answer.  First, for sure he will be the candidate of the party on the ballot in November. That is now a given.

Secondly, however, it is worthwhile to look at the numbers from last week’s primary.  There were 7.35 million eligible voters in the state and 1.532 million of them voted.  So just 20.8%of the voting public actually cast ballots.  El-Sayed received 743,455 votes or 10.1% of the eligible voters, not exactly a landslide by anyone’s calculation.  A surprisingly good showing to be sure but one that demands qualification in the context of the full electorate.

So, while the supporters of El-Sayed can take solace in having pulled off somewhat of a political upset in turning out his opponent, the real voice of the people has yet to be heard.  Saying that the Democratic Party, by endorsing the candidate who won the most votes in the primary, has normalized antisemitism may have some kernel of truth.  However, there was no practical way for that party to withhold its endorsement given that El-Sayed won the primary.

The conclusion that Tobin has drawn will perhaps be more accurate once we all see the level of enthusiasm associated with the party’s support.  While Senate Minority Leader Schumer may have had no way to deny support, much now depends on the spirit of that support or lack thereof.

No doubt pro-Israeli forces will work to elect El-Sayed’s opponent which will make wresting control of the Senate from Republicans much more difficult.   But the real voice of the people has yet to be heard on this matter although to be sure, the Democrats have given the Republican opposition a free gift in this particular Senate race.

What Tobin did not say but what we both would probably agree upon, is the that traffic light for American Jews has, indeed, turned from green to yellow.  The challenge will now be to make sure it does not turn red.