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This Week:

• Coleman: Why We're All In on Michigan
• RJC in the News
• El-Sayed Denied Muslim Brotherhood Ties. The Free Beacon Found Them.

• Sharansky: Is the Whole World Wrong?

• Short Takes
• Week's Best Tweets
• Upcoming Events

Coleman: Why We're All In on Michigan

RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman is providing his insightful, insider perspective on the most important races this election cycle. One of them is the critical Michigan Senate race. These are the races that will make or break the GOP majority in the future Congress – the races we can't afford to lose. If you missed the first report, which focused on key Senate races, you can check it out HERE.

RJC in the News

NY Post: Kamala Harris criticizes Biden, Trump administrations for not acting 'more forcefully' against Israel

Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the Biden and Trump administrations on Wednesday for failing to use U.S. leverage to curb Israel's military campaign in Gaza, saying Washington should have acted "sooner and more forcefully."

… The Republican Jewish Coalition called Harris's remarks "unsurprising," citing her absence from Netanyahu's 2024 address to Congress and her opposition to legislation targeting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

The group also criticized Harris for calling for a halt to Israeli military operations in Rafah, where the Israel Defense Forces later found and rescued hostages, and for agreeing with a student in 2021 who accused Israel of "ethnic genocide."

Abdul El-Sayed under fire from Jewish Dems after refusing to call Israel a US ally during Michigan debate

An Oct. 7th Republican Jewish Coalition ad featured lifelong Jewish Democrats in Michigan who said they "will never vote for Abdul El-Sayed."

"I will never forgive El-Sayed for excusing the terrorists who caused this terrible incident," one voter said.

Another criticized his response in the immediate aftermath of a Michigan synagogue attack, recalling his comment that "hurt people, hurt people."

"And he is giving permission for another person to do it again," the voter said.

In Michigan Senate debate, El-Sayed won't say Iran worse than Israel, or that he'd send defensive weapons to Jewish state

Sam Markstein, national political director and spokesman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that "no amount of debate-stage spin can erase Abdul El-Sayed's abysmal record."

That record includes "making excuses for the Hezbollah-inspired terrorist that attacked Jewish preschoolers at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, libelously smearing Israel as 'bloodthirsty' and 'just as evil' as Hamas, campaigning with notorious bigot Hasan Piker, who said 'America deserved 9/11,' and on the third anniversary of Oct. 7, El-Sayed couldn't muster one word about the monstrous massacre of innocents in Israel, including the murder of 46 Americans," Markstein said.

"Every day, Abdul El-Sayed shows us exactly who he is," he told JNS. "It's why so many lifelong Jewish Democrats in Michigan—rabbis, community leaders and longtime party activists and donors—are saying they will not vote for him."

Michigan deserves a senator "as good as its people," and someone "who stands with its Jewish community," Markstein said. "That's Mike Rogers. A distinguished Army veteran and former FBI special agent, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee."

The RJC "will continue to spend every day between now and Nov. 3 making sure Michigan knows the difference between Mike Rogers, who stands with us, and Abdul El-Sayed, who will defend the people who come after us," he told JNS.

El-Sayed Denied Muslim Brotherhood Ties. The Free Beacon Found Them.

Michigan's radical Democrat candidate for Senate, Abdul El-Sayed, hasn't been honest with the voters about many things, including his and his family's associations with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Washington Free Beacon has broken three important stories about El-Sayed.

Abdul El-Sayed Rakes in Thousands From Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Donors, Records Show

Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has raked in thousands of dollars in campaign donations from individuals linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamist and terrorist movement, campaign finance records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

El-Sayed's donors include the former spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood's official political party in Egypt as well as individuals named in a directory of Muslim Brotherhood leaders that federal investigators submitted as part of a landmark terror financing trial.

Abdul El-Sayed's Mother Was Active in Muslim Brotherhood in College, Sister Said

Abdul El-Sayed's mother—whom the left-wing Michigan Senate candidate has described as "smart, warm, charismatic" and whom he called on camera in a May campaign video—was active in the Muslim Brotherhood while in college in Egypt, a revelation that further contradicts El-Sayed's recent claims that neither he nor his family have ties to the radical Islamist group.

Meet Abdul El-Sayed's Academic 'Inspiration': A Muslim Brotherhood Scion Barred From Entering US Over Terror Ties

Left-wing Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said he drew inspiration from the "excellent" works of a disgraced Oxford professor—and grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna—best known for his diatribes against "Jewish intellectuals" and for being sentenced to 18 years in French prison for raping three women.

Sharansky: Is the Whole World Wrong?

Writing at Tablet Magazine, Natan Sharansky turns to "Half Solace", an 1892 essay by the pre-state Zionist journalist and essayist Ahad Ha'am, at a time when so many people believe lies about Israel and the Jewish people. The "genocide" libel, like the blood libel, is untrue, no matter who says it.

Ahad Ha'am concludes his essay with the same question. Is it really possible, he asks, that the whole world is wrong and the Jews are right? "It is possible," he answers, "and the blood libel proves it." It is therefore precisely here, he says, that Jews can find a useful lesson and some consolation. We can free ourselves from the power of false prejudices and find strength in the conviction of our own moral cause.

…What, then, are we to do? Returning once again to Ahad Ha'am, we should first of all remember that just because the entire world believes something does not make it true. Only once we have internalized this can we find some consolation in our situation. Only then can we continue to fight and demand from ourselves the same high moral standards while shutting out the voices of those who would use our misfortunes to their benefit.

… Our goal should not be to convince the rest of the world that we are right. Our existence does not depend on a vote in the United Nations. It depends on our own belief in the righteousness of Jewish civilization. Of course, we are not above criticism, and we must acknowledge and correct course when we deviate from our own standards. But remaining vigilant about our shortcomings is not the same as accepting guilt we don't deserve. And so, when our children and grandchildren ask us how the whole world can believe there is a genocide if, in fact, there is no genocide, we should stand firm in the conviction of what we know to be true.

Short Takes

Jewish Insider: Administration officials, bereaved families, remember October 7

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and his wife, Allison, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun and other administration officials joined the families of former hostages and victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel for a commemoration event on Wednesday at the State Department.

Rubio and Lutnick played a central role in organizing the event to honor the 46 Americans killed in the Oct. 7 attacks.

...Others in attendance included Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Sebastian Gorka, the senior director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council.

Brodsky: Trump Is Fighting Antisemitism. Here's What His Administration Has Actually Done.

On Wednesday evening, October 14, hundreds of people gathered at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan. President Donald Trump addressed them by video. Leo Terrell, who leads the Justice Department's Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, attended in person, along with law enforcement representatives and Jewish community leaders.

It was the first stop of the Justice Department's American Tour Against Hate, a 15-city campaign announced back in May.

I'm curious how many American Jews even knew this was happening.

... The administration has investigated universities, filed civil rights lawsuits, canceled federal funding, reached agreements with schools, and created task forces to address antisemitism and crimes connected to October 7. Some cases are still in court. Others have already led to changes in school policies.

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