COMMERCE, Mich. — As former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) campaigns for the open Senate seat in Michigan, he is not shy about his support for Israel. But he has lately encountered more people pushing back on American support for the Jewish state, and he is worried not enough is being done, including in his own party, to fight that trend. 

“I don’t think we have an effort to counter the [anti-Israel] narrative,” Rogers, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Jewish Insider in an interview near Detroit last week. “You don’t have to love Israel, but you have to respect the fact that the nation is trying to defend itself and its people who have maybe, probably, the most horrific history of being treated in the world of any other race on planet earth.”

Rogers is the only major Republican candidate in the Senate race, while three Democrats are locked in a tight battle for the nomination, with several months still to go until the August primary. He narrowly lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in the state’s closely-contested 2024 Senate election, after having previously served in Congress from 2001 to 2015.

Rogers recounted a recent conversation with a woman who worked in Republican politics and grew up Christian, who told him that she is now not sure whether to support Israel. 

“This is her word: ‘I always believed we were supposed to be for Israel. It’s in the Bible, it’s part of our faith. We have to,’” he recalled. “She said, ‘This is the first time I’ve had doubts.’ And I said, ‘Really? Why?’ And she said, ‘Well, my children are coming to me with all of this stuff,’ and it’s all social media driven.” 

Asked about the burgeoning influence of far-right antisemitic influencers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, Rogers said he is concerned about growing antisemitism on the right, although he thinks the problem is worse on the political left. 

“I do think on the right, we’ve got to be careful it doesn’t creep into the mainstream. I do still think it’s fringe, and we need to make sure that candidates who don’t feel that way, candidates who are more open to conversation about it, get elected, so that we can push back on that,” said Rogers. 

President Donald Trump has met with Carlson numerous times in the White House this year. Rogers doesn’t think that’s a problem, though he wants to see Carlson’s ideas disputed.

“I always believe that if I can sit in a room with you, I don’t care how much I disagree with you, you’ll probably find some common ground. I would say we need to keep talking, and we need to make sure that people understand that that’s not right, have that debate — I’m OK with debate,” said Rogers. “We just don’t want him to be a louder voice than his rhetoric would seem, because it’s dangerous.” 

Two weeks earlier, an armed gunman drove a truck filled with explosives into Temple Israel, a synagogue in suburban Detroit. He fired at security guards before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an incident where no one else died, but left the community badly shaken.

“It didn’t take a life, but it’s sure going to have some emotional impacts for people for a while,” Rogers said. “The theme I hear the most is just how antisemitism is becoming more normal. It used to be so ostracized.” 

Rogers said fighting antisemitism in the state must begin at universities.

“Once I’m elected, we’re going to sit down with college presidents and we’re going to look at their mitigation plans, and we’re going to talk about it. We’re going to have hard conversations with them,” Rogers explained. “You can’t allow virtue signaling to become a thing, and now it’s where people are, because they want to virtual signal that they’re for the little guy. I’ve never seen such ignorance about an issue in my life, and people so certain about their opinion.” 

In recent days, Rogers has criticized Abdul El-Sayed, one of his Democratic opponents, for announcing that he will host campaign rallies at the University of Michigan and Michigan State with the far-left antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker. 

“My problem with Hasan is, I think he’s a blatant antisemite, No. 1. But No. 2, he’s anti-American,” said Rogers. “At a time when we have men and women, very brave, courageous men and women standing tall for the United States of America, taking risks in the United States military, they’re on college campuses trying to get kids whipped up about how America is the bad guy.” 

Rogers tied the antisemitic attack in Michigan to a broader wave of political violence. 

“Just think about the last year. There’s legislators in Minnesota who were hunted down and killed, Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” he said. “Obviously, the Jewish community is a specific target by, unfortunately, extremist voices here in America. But political violence — you look at how it’s crept into the language of people.”