Asked at the Politico Security Summit in Washington on Tuesday if she still calls herself a Zionist, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said, “I believe in a Jewish State of Israel, yes. And that to me isn’t a radical thing to say and I always have.”

“I can say that in the same breath that I criticize the military policy of Bibi Netanyahu,” she added.

Slotkin acknowledged it “used to be easier” to say that she considers herself a Zionist. “I come from a state that has a huge Arab and Muslim population, a very large Jewish population. There’s not been a single issue that I’ve seen that’s been more emotional than this one because so many people have family members who are caught in the middle of this conflict.” 

“As someone who served three tours in Iraq,” she continued, “I do have concerns with the way the Israelis are organizing military policy right now, certainly in Gaza but also other places.”

“What I can’t accept, though, is collective punishment that comes from saying, ‘well, I don’t like Bibi Netanyahu’s military policy so Jews in America’s synagogues should be attacked,’ including synagogues I’m very close to and spent my life growing up in,” Slotkin said, referring to the March car-ramming and shooting attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. 

Slotkin called the attack “particularly personal” in an interview with Jewish Insider shortly after.

She continued on Tuesday, “That’s collective punishment that we wouldn’t allow when we’re talking about African Americans or talking about Italian Americans and so we shouldn’t allow it for Jewish Americans, either.”