Liberal Zionist group Nonnegotiable aims to turn Michigan campaign pressure into a national project
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The Nonnegotiable initiative, which mobilized 250 rabbis to press Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for pro-Zionist pledges, says it wants to expand beyond Michigan and build a nationwide forum for liberal Zionist Jews.
Around 250 rabbis representing the Nonnegotiable Michigan coalition met shortly before an Oct. 24 rally in Detroit featuring Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and former President Barack Obama. The rabbis pressed El-Sayed to publicly endorse "Jewish statehood in Israel" and to reassure "Zionist Jews" from the stage, setting conditions the group says must be met before it will lend support.
El-Sayed did not address the movement or its demands at the event, and his campaign is now in its final weeks. The push took place as Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens backed El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers.
"I do think it’s a template for a national model," said Rabbi Aaron Starr, a co-founder of Nonnegotiable, speaking to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "I’m certainly looking beyond this election. In two years there will be a presidential election, and another slate of candidates for elected office."
Starr said the group’s central goal is to "name the priorities that are most core to mainstream American Jews" and to create a forum for rejecting extremism across the political spectrum.
Nonnegotiable says it has collected 1,900 signatures in Michigan and 4,560 nationwide, including rabbis from 34 states and Washington, D.C. Among the signers is Rabbi Samuel Stern of Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, Kansas, who pointed to concerns about "anti-Zionist hatred" arising from multiple political camps.
The initiative has also drawn in college students, with about two dozen at the University of Michigan adding their names to the petition. Student organizer Jacob Reich said he agreed with Nonnegotiable’s stated goals but felt it did not fully reckon with El-Sayed’s earlier remarks after a March attack on Temple Israel.
Critics inside the Jewish community say the movement may end up helping Republican candidates. Rabbi Alana Alpert, of Congregation T’chiyah, wrote that Nonnegotiable’s approach has "driven a wedge between the campaign and Jewish interests." Rabbi Nate DeGroot offered a different set of "nonnegotiables," emphasizing opposition to Christian nationalism, support for abortion and trans rights, and resistance to a possible U.S.–Israeli conflict over Iran.
J Street, a liberal Zionist organization, pointed to a leaked text between Nonnegotiable’s Instagram account and former AIPAC president David Victor, raising the possibility of coordination with established pro-Israel lobbying groups. Nonnegotiable leaders denied any partisan involvement.
In a recent Zoom call, Nonnegotiable co-founder Rabbi Josh Whinston criticized AIPAC’s use of his comments in anti-El-Sayed mailers, while other participants praised Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten for backing the U.S.–Israel relationship.
The group ended the meeting by encouraging Jewish voters to consider write-in candidates, citing the 19th-century poet Emma Lazarus as a symbolic choice.