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This Week:

• Rogers and Cruz on "Who Will Keep Us Safe" in Michigan
• RJC in the News

• Israel's Inconclusive Election

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

Last night, the RJC hosted a standing-room-only event in Michigan featuring GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), in a conversation moderated by RJC Board member and US Holocaust Memorial Museum Chair Jeff Miller. In a packed hotel ballroom in a suburb of Detroit, the crowd also heard from two lifelong Democrats from the Temple Israel community who are supporting Mike Rogers, and Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters.

Rogers is running against left-wing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, whose anti-American, anti-Israel, and antisemitic positions have alienated and frightened Jewish Democrats.

By contrast, Mike Rogers served in the US Army and the FBI before running for the Michigan State Senate and then the US House. Rogers served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and is respected for his deep knowledge about national security issues. He has a strong record of supporting Israel and the US-Israel alliance and is an outspoken fighter against antisemitism.

During the RJC event, Rogers and Cruz highlighted the personal and family connections between El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist organization that spawned Hamas and historically has worked with other terrorist groups, including Hezbollah.

Cruz warned that if El-Sayed joins the Senate, he would have access to classified materials. Cruz said, "I believe — this is no hyperbole — that there would be a serious risk that Americans would die as a result of that" because El-Sayed might "share sensitive information with the Muslim Brotherhood."

The Jewish Insider reported from the RJC event:

Taylor Weintraub, the mother of a 5-year-old student at Temple Israel — which was the site of a terrorist attack earlier this year — said on stage, through tears, that El-Sayed's response to the attack was "deeply painful to me. … There is no political grievance or ideological disagreement that can ever excuse terrorism, and this goes beyond one statement."

El-Sayed backpedaled on those comments after the primary, apologizing for the timing of his remarks.

She said that Rogers' support for the Jewish community and condemnation of antisemitism "really mattered to me," and that this would be the first time she had ever voted for a Republican.

Lauren Slutsky, a lifelong Temple Israel member and Democrat, highlighted that El-Sayed had failed to address the requests of the Nonnegotiable Michigan campaign to agree to basic tenets including Israel's right to exist and the security of the Jewish community.

"Why should anyone in our community give him our vote? I do not make this decision lightly. I have been a Democrat my entire life, but I will not put party loyalty ahead of my conscience and my Jewish identity," Slutsky said.

She said her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, "taught us what can happen when hatred goes unchallenged and people remain silent," urging fellow Jews not to leave their ballots blank.

An unexpected guest at the event was Jason Turkish, a prominent Jewish Democrat who is the fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). Earlier in the day, Turkish – who has reportedly donated more than $300,000 to Democrats in the past – told an interviewer that he plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers. (Rep. Stevens narrowly lost to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary this year. She has publicly endorsed him, but also publicly cautioned that El-Sayed is driving Jewish and black voters from the Democratic Party.)

The Jewish Insider reports:

Turkish said that he made up his mind to support Rogers after the first general election debate, when El-Sayed described Israel as a threat to the United States comparable to Iran. "It is 100% disqualifying to be a United States senator," Turkish said.  Other Jewish Democrats also called that debate a breaking point for them.

Turkish argued that El-Sayed is well-aware that U.S. aid to Israel constitutes a miniscule fraction of the federal budget, "yet Jews are blamed" consistently in El-Sayed's fundraising appeals for a lack of healthcare and education funding in the United States.

He told Jewish Insider that he went public with his support for Rogers, and decided to attend the RJC event because he "couldn't live with myself if I didn't speak up."

Further reading:

Mandel: The Anti-Semitic Ad Inspired by Abdul El-Sayed's Own Words

RJC in the News

JNS: Jewish Dems face dilemma, as anti-Israel candidates gain ground in party primaries

The RJC believes that El-Sayed is "the most antisemitic U.S. candidate to ever seek a Senate seat," [Sam Markstein, political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition] said.

"They're [Jewish Democrats] kowtowing to these extremists," Markstein told JNS. "This has gone from a 100-degree fever to a 105-degree fever. It is a full-blown infection now in the Democratic Party."

CBS News: Mike Rogers, Ted Cruz speak to voters at Republican Jewish Coalition event

This CBS News report includes comments from several event attendees detailing their concerns about Abdul El-Sayed.

JTA: Mike Rogers-Ted Cruz event draws Jewish Democratic megadonor who rejects El-Sayed

The Republican Jewish Coalition typically isn't known for drawing committed Democrats to its events.

But that's what happened Wednesday night at the Townsend Hotel in suburban Detroit, when a campaign event for GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers attracted several Jews from the other side of the aisle. Those included Jason Turkish, a Democratic lawyer and megadonor best known as the fiancé of pro-Israel Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost her bid to be the Democratic Senate nominee to Abdul El-Sayed.

...RJC spokesperson Sam Markstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had to fetch more chairs for overflow seating. Markstein said turnout for Wednesday's event was double what the RJC had drawn for a similar gathering in 2024 in support of Rogers' first, unsuccessful Senate run — when the GOP was stronger nationally than it is now.

Fox News: Anti-Israel political ad sparks backlash, accusations of antisemitism

RJC Political Director Sam Markstein speaks at FoxNews about the antisemitic ad for Abdul El-Sayed put out by "Rebellion PAC" headed by Cenk Uygur.

The Detroit News: Mike Rogers joined by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at Birmingham campaign rally

Photos from the event from The Detroit News.

Israel's Inconclusive Election

Israelis went to the polls Tuesday and the last votes were counted today – but the composition of the next government is still very much in question.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud outperformed the pre-election polls to win 27 seats, while his chief opponent, Yashar's Gadi Eisenkot, won 21 seats. The right-wing bloc got a total of 53 seats; the anti-Netanyahu bloc got 48. Neither one has a coalition large enough to get past the 61-seat majority needed to form a government. This is not unusual in Israeli politics.

What is unusual is that total voter turnout hit 77.7%, the highest since 1999. Turnout among Israeli Arabs was also exceptionally high and the Arab parties, Joint List and Ra'am, together won a record-breaking 19 seats. That block of Arab future Knesset members (from anti-Zionist, anti-Israel parties) has stymied the opposition's effort to defeat Netanyahu outright. Netanyahu may be able to draw off one of the opposition parties to join with him to form a new government. Or the stalemate could continue – and Israelis could find themselves at the polls again in a few months.

Here's why another election may take place, as JNS explains:

The government-formation process follows a timetable set by law. The first candidate [Israeli President Isaac] Herzog designates receives 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, to form a coalition. If he or she is unsuccessful, the president can assign another candidate 28 days. If that attempt also fails—or the president determines there is no possibility of forming a government—a coalition of at least 61 MKs have 21 days to request that the president designate an alternative candidate. That candidate then has 14 days to form a government. Failure to establish a government would trigger another election approximately 90 days later.

Further reading:
Glick: Holding Collective Breaths: Explaining Israel's Early Election Results 2026

Short Takes

Zeldin: Biden's energy rules cost billions. Trump's EPA is lowering costs

President Donald Trump and I were in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday to announce our biggest step yet to fix one of the Biden administration's costliest mistakes. EPA's new proposal to overhaul the Biden-era oil and natural gas rules is expected to save Americans $45 billion. It would also unleash an estimated 210 million more barrels of American oil and 1.41 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Axios: The progressive House "Bloc" plots its first moves

Anything short of a landslide victory for House Democrats next Tuesday will open the door for a faction of left-wing insurgents known informally as "The Bloc" to complicate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' plans.

Why it matters: The group is coordinating with progressives on Capitol Hill to use a potential House speaker election, plus subsequent procedural votes and any other points of leverage they can find, to shift the Democratic Party to the left.

…The Bloc is an informal grouping of candidates who won House primaries this year with support from left-wing groups such as Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), often by unseating incumbents.

Tweets

Events