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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel accused the Michigan Democratic Party on Monday of not doing enough to address antisemitism by allowing members charged with antisemitic acts to still attend the upcoming convention.
Nessel previously told Jewish leaders and community members that she would not attend the convention scheduled for Aug. 29 out of security concerns. As the state’s first Jewish attorney general, Nessel told MS NOW that she was familiar with antisemitism while in office, but the Democratic Party has now become intolerant of different ideas.
“Look, myself and other Jewish electeds are subjected to a barrage of antisemitic threats,” Nessel said. “And that’s been happening literally since my first day in office in 2019, long before Oct. 7. But in addition to that, you know, what we’ve seen in the Democratic Party as of late in here in Michigan is that we’re not seeing the same kind of civil discourse that we used to be able to have and the ability to have a diversity of ideas and opinions that are, you know, respected.”
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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, has said she won’t attend the upcoming Democratic Party convention in her state. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
When asked whether the party was doing enough to counter antisemitism, Nessel replied “absolutely not” and claimed that criminally charged Democrats were still allowed to attend the convention.
“We have five members of the Democratic Party who have been charged with antisemitic acts of vandalism and harassment and threats to other Democratic officials, some of whom are Jewish and including an attack on the Jewish Federation of Detroit,” Nessel said. “So those people are still permitted to come to the convention. And it’s just baffling to me that while these charges are pending, they’re going to be allowed to be there despite, you know, these credible charges against them.”
She added, “So I think that there’s a lot that we could do. We could enforce a code of conduct that says that, again, you can’t chase people around the convention yelling at them. It’s not appropriate to boo people off the stage even if it’s a candidate whose ideas you don’t support.”
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In a comment to Fox News Digital, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said, “We are appalled by the details of this indictment and the hateful, antisemitic threats that took place. The Michigan Democratic Party condemns all acts of hatred and violence, which have no place in Michigan and should not be tolerated.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel accused the Democratic Party of allowing members accused of antisemitic acts to attend the upcoming convention. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Another Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson said that the party received a code of conduct complaint but will not comment on pending investigations.
“We are committed to ensuring party-hosted events are safe and secure environments for all attendees. We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hateful conduct. We are working diligently with stakeholders, elected officials, and party membership to prepare for our August convention and look forward to welcoming Michigan Democrats to the Lansing Center on Aug. 29,” the spokesperson said.
During the interview, Nessel also addressed Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign has been embroiled in antisemitic controversies based on his past comments. Though she did not explicitly endorse El-Sayed, Nessel told MS NOW that she has no desire to see GOP candidate Mike Rogers win the Senate seat and that she plans on speaking with El-Sayed about her concerns soon.
“First of all, I’d like him to tone down his rhetoric a little bit,” Nessel said. “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.”
Dana Nessel told MS NOW that she plans on voicing her concerns with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
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She continued, “If we’re talking about reforming healthcare, which all of us want to do in the party, it’s not AIPAC that is responsible for those problems, it’s the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies,” adding, “Not everything is about AIPAC, not everything is about Israel.”
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.