Michigan’s top law enforcement officer is urging Jewish Americans to give up “the very future of our own people” for the Democratic Party, even as she confesses she’s afraid to show her face at her own party’s convention due to anti-Israel hostility.
Attorney General Dana Nessel made the stunning remarks Sunday at a gathering of Jewish Democrats, invoking the biblical Queen Esther to argue that Jews have a “moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest.” “It is perhaps up to us now to follow in her path and 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,” Nessel said, according to video obtained by The Detroit News.
The remarks came just one day after the state Democratic nominating convention, which Nessel skipped entirely. “I don’t feel safe going,” Nessel reportedly said. “I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying.”
The attorney general acknowledged the tension many Jewish Democrats feel within their own party, admitting that many believe they “must choose between our faith and our party.” She conceded it’s “so easy to hate people right now, especially other Democrats who seem to have thrown us under the bus, despite our lifelong contributions to our party.”
Yet her solution was not to demand better treatment from fellow Democrats. Instead, she urged Jewish voters to stay loyal to the party anyway.
Nessel attempted to reframe the question of Israel’s security as secondary to climate concerns. “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?” she argued.
She also took a swipe at Republicans, claiming the GOP “would have you believe that the biggest issue our nation faces is transgender girls playing JV volleyball.”
The attorney general has served since 2019 and cannot seek reelection due to term limits. Her comments Sunday laid bare a painful reality for Jewish Democrats: a party that increasingly tolerates open hostility toward Israel and its supporters, while asking Jewish Americans to sacrifice their own interests for the privilege of remaining in the coalition.
Whether Jewish voters heed Nessel’s call to sacrifice or decide their faith and community deserve better treatment remains to be seen.
