WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- El-Sayed’s “Jews for Abdul” campaign features three liberal activists connected to organizations hostile to Israel.
- Jewish Voice for Peace blamed “Israeli apartheid and occupation” after the October 7 Hamas attack.
- Detroit Jews for Justice has close organizational connections to Jewish Voice for Peace, though Klein’s membership remains unclear.
- Some Jewish Democrats said El-Sayed’s apology for comments following a synagogue attack fell short.
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is trying to calm mounting concerns among Jewish voters with campaign ads and social media videos promoting “Jews for Abdul.”
The faces chosen for that outreach are three left-wing social justice activists with connections to organizations hostile to Israel.
A September 8 campaign ad featured Daniel Klein, a former “Culture and Technology Fellow” at Detroit Jews for Justice.
Wearing a yarmulke and appearing with his family, Klein was shown as El-Sayed promised to “be thinking about the people here” in Michigan.
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Klein previously worked as a reporter for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York, where he covered the role of “left-wing Jewish activists” in the Occupy Wall Street protests.
He left journalism in 2012 to work as a community organizer and later spent time at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In November 2018, Klein joined Detroit Jews for Justice, which describes itself as a “social justice organization” advocating “for housing justice, water rights, [and] reproductive justice.”
Months earlier, police arrested him during the Michigan Poor People’s Campaign, a series of rallies focused on violence, racism, environmental devastation, and poverty.
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Klein’s biography said he had worked as a national reporter and as a field organizer for congressional and Chicago city elections.
It added, “Dan Klein is a former national reporter, and has worked as a field organizer for congressional and city of Chicago elections—yet, he’s proudest of the work he’s done in support of Detroit Jews for Justice.”
El-Sayed followed that advertisement with a September 19 Rosh Hashanah video filmed at the home of Missy and Elaine Shifman.
The mother and daughter read prayers from a card and praised his Medicare for All proposal, a single-payer health care platform.
The Shifmans appear to be members of Jewish Voice for Peace and recorded a July 29 video for the organization supporting El-Sayed.
Elaine said, “For me, being Jewish has always been closely tied to fighting for human rights and social justice for all people.”
Missy added, “Abdul … is someone who believes in the rights and freedoms of every person, no exceptions, including Palestinians.”
A 2021 Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile described the Shifmans as a “family of liberal Jewish activists.”
Jewish Voice for Peace calls itself the “largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world.”
Hours after the October 7 Hamas attack, it called the terrorists “Palestinian fighters from Gaza” and blamed the violence on “Israeli apartheid and occupation, and United States complicity in that oppression.”
The organization also hosted an event featuring Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted for bombing a Jerusalem supermarket.
Elias Rodriguez, the terrorist who assassinated two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in 2025, shared posts promoting a Chicago protest led by Jewish Voice for Peace.
It is unclear whether Klein belongs to Jewish Voice for Peace, but that organization has close connections to Detroit Jews for Justice.
Jewish Voice for Peace encouraged members to attend 2025 High Holidays services at Congregation T’chiyah, the Reconstructionist synagogue that founded Detroit Jews for Justice.
Congregation T’chiyah hosted El-Sayed at its Passover seder during his primary campaign against Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who supports Israel.
At least two members of Detroit Jews for Justice’s “Political Evaluation Team” also belong to Jewish Voice for Peace.
“Jews for Abdul” was launched ahead of El-Sayed’s August primary by Barbara Weinberg Barefield, a founding member of Detroit’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter.
That chapter held a rally nine days after October 7, accusing Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid,” while Barefield has accused Israel and the United States of “horrific war crimes” and “genocide.”
El-Sayed has also faced criticism over his relationship with streamer Hasan Piker and his response to the terrorist who attacked Michigan’s Temple Israel synagogue.
El-Sayed later called his response “a mistake” and said, “If my statement caused pain, I’m sorry. That was not what I intended.”
The New York Times reported that the apology “fell short with some Jewish Democrats in part because he seemed to be seeking forgiveness for the timing of his remark rather than its substance.”
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