Michael Roth, the former Small Business Administration head running as a Democrat against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) in a northern New Jersey swing district, says he wants to be a leader of a new generation of voices in support of Israel, pushing back on what he sees as concerning trends and rhetoric infiltrating his generation and American politics.

Roth described his family background as a factor contributing to his candidacy. His paternal grandparents, both Holocaust survivors, were born in Vienna, Austria. His grandmother was rescued as a young girl and grew up in Shanghai, later leaving on the last boat out of the country when the Communist Party took over, moving to Israel. 

His grandfather, who never fully told his story, lost his siblings and his mother in the Holocaust, before moving to Israel and fighting in the Israeli War of Independence. Roth said his family has a hand-written letter by his grandfather in German telling his life story, which Roth’s father has declined to have translated. His family started a scholarship at Technion University in his grandfather’s name to support new immigrants to Israel who cannot afford an education.

“My grandparents didn’t go to Israel because they had a Zionist dream, they went to Israel because they didn’t have a choice. I think people have lost an understanding of that,” Roth emphasized, noting that they were not able to move to the United States due to quotas, could not return to Europe and could not stay in Shanghai. “Without Israel, I certainly wouldn’t exist.”

Both grandparents ultimately settled in Newark, N.J., but Roth still has many family members in Israel.

“When I go to Israel, it feels like I’m going home again,” Roth said. “My guiding light around Israel is I want my grandkids to feel the same way about Israel as I do, and we’ve got a lot of work to do in order to make that happen. We have to think in long terms.”

He has traveled to Israel frequently and said he’s engaged with various aspects of Israeli society, including the immigrant absorption center — which he said has given him inspiration for the American immigration system — and the Israeli special forces, as well as having observed Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Roth said he’s also prayed for sick family members at the Western Wall and spent time camping in the Negev, experiences he said helped him connect to his Jewish faith.

Addressing the ongoing war in Gaza, Roth said that he “unequivocally support[s] the [Jewish] spiritual homeland, its right to exist, its right to defend itself, its right to demand hostages come home. And some way, somehow, we need to figure out a way out of this war.”

He argued that it’s “helpful to think in longer time frames” with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said that if Germany can be a strong ally of Israel, something that would have been unimaginable for his grandfather, then it’s possible to imagine a peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians.

“We need a change in ideology away from such yearning for violence and destruction, and for that to be true, we need to have a thriving democracy in Israel, where it’s a Jewish state, and we have tolerance for other ways of life and where we have peace with our neighbors,” Roth said. “We need the international community, especially young people in the U.S., to see Israel as a democracy that upholds the highest standards of human rights,” and Palestinian leadership that no longer pursues violence.

“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, if you’re representing the best interest of America, you must support the elimination of Hamas, and you must have extreme resistance to the growing threats in Iran,” Roth said. With Israel policy becoming increasingly partisan, “I think it’s really important that we elect Democrats in the primary who are staunchly pro-Israel.”

In the U.S., he said that Israel cannot become a partisan issue, and vowed that he would not use it as a political wedge. He said he wants to work to return to a time when Israel had robust support among both Democrats and Republicans.

“We must hold multiple truths. The human toll from October 7th and the war that has followed is absolutely devastating. And, in order for Israel to exist and to protect Americans and its allies from threats, the continued war is necessary, but not sufficient. We must also have a political and moral strategy,” Roth said, noting that both Hamas and Iran are aiming to wipe out not only Israel but the United States as well.

“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, if you’re representing the best interest of America, you must support the elimination of Hamas, and you must have extreme resistance to the growing threats in Iran,” Roth said. With Israel policy becoming increasingly partisan, “I think it’s really important that we elect Democrats in the primary who are staunchly pro-Israel.”

Roth said that he wants to be a “strong voice for the younger generation” correcting narratives around Israel and supporting the Jewish state.

Roth called U.S. aid to Israel “some of the best investment that you can make” and said he has strong confidence in the Israeli military. He said that the U.S. should also aim to minimize the loss of innocent lives in Gaza and send humanitarian aid, but said that he would not support conditions or restrictions on aid to Israel.

“We have to find our moral compass here too and make sure that we’re not pursuers and that we can find a path forward where Palestinians have dignity,” Roth said. “We need to fight for that too. It’s painful for us. It’s painful for me. If we don’t find a way to help Palestinians get to dignity, we’ll never live in peace.”

“We need to think bigger and differently about what the future looks like,” Roth said. “I want to work with Palestinian leaders, I want to work with Israeli leaders who are willing to think bigger and differently. And we need to be able to communicate that to younger Americans, so that they can understand the actual objective of what this war will be, because we cannot be fighting a pointless war. This war has to lead to a future that is filled with a thriving democracy and peace with our neighbors.”

Roth called data showing growing anti-Israel sentiment among young people frightening, lamenting that “the word Zionism has been hijacked and has been made to be what it is not — imperialism, colonialism, apartheid.”

He suggested that some of those sentiments are related to his generation’s wariness of foreign wars given the two decades of the global war on terrorism, and argued that advocates for Israel need to “do a better job of clearly articulating the point of the war” — including what the future could look like decades from now, with peace between Arabs and Israelis.

Roth said, “I don’t think that past proposed solutions are going to work in today’s context” in light of how the war has entrenched animosities among both Palestinians and Israelis. 

“We need to think bigger and differently about what the future looks like,” Roth said. “I want to work with Palestinian leaders, I want to work with Israeli leaders who are willing to think bigger and differently. And we need to be able to communicate that to younger Americans, so that they can understand the actual objective of what this war will be, because we cannot be fighting a pointless war. This war has to lead to a future that is filled with a thriving democracy and peace with our neighbors.”

On Iran, Roth said that nothing “can be taken off the table” and “we need to have a position that we are willing to take military action,” even as he hopes the U.S. will not have to use such military force. Any deal with Iran must require the complete dismantling of Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium, he added.

Roth said he’s faced concerns about antisemitism at home — he said he’s heard from potential constituents that they’re worried about having a Jewish candidate in the race and on the ballot.

He said that antisemitism “is real and it’s un-American and it violates our nation’s core values” and must be addressed decisively, but that freedom of speech and due process rights must also be protected. Threats of violence and targeted harassment against Jewish people, he continued, are not protected speech.

Roth added that the Jewish community needs to stand up against all forms of hate — “even when it means standing for people who don’t yet know why they should stand with us” — both because such hate will ultimately come to target Jews as well, and because it’s the morally correct thing to do.

“We need to strongly speak out against this with zero tolerance, and we also need to have protection of law,” Roth said. “It’s a very slippery slope when people start disappearing without due process. We Jews know this. We know that when people start disappearing without due process, it’s only a matter of time.”

Outside of Israel and antisemitism policy, Roth said that his grandparents’ story has also been a driving factor for his political career. They arrived in the United States in 1955 and swept floors to earn money and eventually opened a clothing shop in Newark.

“It wasn’t just a business to them. It was an act of hope. It was freedom from oppression,” Roth said. “It was the pursuit of the American dream, and two generations later, I am here because of them.”

He said he’s spent his career trying to give others the opportunity to live out the same American dream in both his public and private sector capacities, including as the head of the Small Business Administration under former President Joe Biden and the CEO of an investment firm backing small businesses.

Given rising prices and slow wage growth, Roth said that the American dream is no longer possible for many, a central issue he wants to tackle as a member of Congress, bringing federal investments into his district.

Roth raised more than $175,000 in his first 24 hours in the race, after announcing his candidacy in late April. Other declared candidates include Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett, who has raised $427,000 as of the end of March, and Summit County Democrats chairman Greg Vartan, who raised $101,000 and New Jersey Forward Party leader Brian Varela.