A co-founder of “Jews for Abdul,” a loose coalition of Jewish activists backing Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic nominee for Senate, voiced reservations over the nominee’s approach to Israel in a recent organizing call, arguing he could “do a better job” toning down harsh rhetoric that has alienated many Jewish voters in the key battleground state.

Steve Gold, a “Jews for Abdul” member in a heavily Jewish Detroit suburb, said during the mid-August call that there were “three issues” about which El-Sayed has been “less than effective in communicating” his views, citing his refusal to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, his “insistence on using the word genocide” to describe Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and his opposition to all U.S. funding for Israel, including defensive aid.

Gold confirmed to Jewish Insider on Thursday that his comments made on the private organizing call, a video of which was first reported by The Midwesterner, were authentic.

His remarks underscore how even some Jewish supporters of El-Sayed recognize that his hostile statements against Israel could cost him votes in the broader Jewish community, which he will likely need to prevail in the closely contested election. Michigan is home to around 100,000 Jewish voters, many of whom have raised concerns about rising antisemitism within the Democratic Party.

Even as El-Sayed has recently apologized for his comments equivocating over a violent terror attack against a synagogue outside Detroit in March, some Jewish Democrats remain skeptical of his campaign and feel his outreach has been politically calculated.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Jewish Democrats have gravitated to El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), a vocal supporter of Israel.

Even “without changing his policies and feelings,” Gold said during the video call that El-Sayed “could do a better job” of articulating his views in a manner that is less alienating to Jewish community members who do not share his views. 

The question over whether Israel has a right to exist “needs to be answered ‘yes,’ full stop, and then go on to explaining the nuances,” Gold said, while warning that El-Sayed’s frequent accusations of genocide have also been unhelpful. “It’s something that makes some Jews stop as though he is denigrating the significance and importance of the Holocaust, which of course he is not,” he explained.

Gold noted that he was “just talking about problems” and was not casting judgement on “whether they’re right or wrong.”

With regard to El-Sayed’s “statement that all aid to Israel,” including for its Iron Dome missile-defense system, “should be cut off,” Gold told the organizers, “people stop listening when they” hear “Israel doesn’t have a right to defend itself,” using air quotes around the oft-repeated line. 

“I think that those are three things that turn off a lot of Jews,” he concluded, “and if Abdul did a better job talking about them, it would help.”

In a brief phone interview on Thursday, however, Gold downplayed his feedback, saying “it was just a random moment” caught on video. He noted that he has “no access or policy input” with El-Sayed’s team, even as he told the organizers he would be “trying to take up” the issues he raised on the call last month.

“Everybody I talk to has a different take on all of these questions,” he told JI, emphasizing that Don Greenspon, a fellow co-founder of “Jews for Abdul,” did not agree with his criticism. “The old joke,” Gold quipped, “is three Jews, five opinions.”

Gold, who has called Israel “genocidal” in a social media post, declined to share if he believes Israel should receive defensive aid, in contrast to El-Sayed. “I think Abdul’s positions that he’s expressed about Israel are right on the money,” he stated. “I have no difference of opinion with Abdul on withholding tax dollars.”

Still, he said he had “no expertise” on the topic and was not authorized to speak on behalf of El-Sayed’s campaign, noting he was just a “volunteer” and one of some 150 members of the “Jews for Abdul” group. 

“There’s no reason to solicit my opinion,” he told JI. “I’m not going to make any more of it than it was.”