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Jewish, Pro-Israel Democrat Edges Out Senate Race Victory in Michigan
US Rep. and candidate for US Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) looks on near a polling station in the 2024 US presidential election on Election Day in Detroit, Michigan, US, Nov. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
US Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Jewish lawmaker from Michigan, prevailed in her Senate race in the Mitten State, representing a bright spot for Democrats in an election cycle characterized by the defeat of presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and landslide losses in congressional elections across the country.
Slotkin, a moderate Democrat and former CIA analyst, narrowly defeated former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Wednesday by a margin of 48.6 percent to 48.3 percent. Slotkin will replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who announced she would not seek a new term in 2023.
“THANK YOU, MICHIGAN! I am so honored to be the next Senator from the great state of Michigan and to follow in the footsteps of the great [Debbie Stabenow],” Slotkin wrote on X/Twitter.
“This would not have happened without the hard work and support of so many: my family, our volunteers, donors, and of course — everyone who voted in this election. I promise I will do everything in my power to be the principled leader you deserve,” Slotkin continued.
Slotkin’s victory came as Harris was defeated in the traditionally liberal state by Republican nominee Donald Trump. In an election season animated by public furor over inflation, migration, and the economy, many observers perceived Slotkin’s electoral odds as uncertain.
Moreover, Slotkin faced intense criticism within the state over her support for Israel. Pro-Palestinian activists have pressured politicians within Michigan — a state with a large Arab American community — to adopt more adversarial positions against the Jewish state.
Slotkin has accepted donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States. The lawmaker has also voted in favor of providing military aid to Israel, sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its prosecutor’s decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, and banning the State Department from citing casualty figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Slotkin has also condemned Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, calling the attacks “an indiscriminate massacre defined by sheer hate.”
The lawmaker’s stridently pro-Israel voting record and public support for the Jewish state rankled many members of Michigan’s Arab American community.
“This year, I’m not going to be voting,” an Arab American citizen of Dearborn, Michigan told the New York Times last month. “Everybody’s taking the wrong position on what’s going on overseas.”
In the year following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Arab American communities within Michigan have transformed into a launching pad of protests against the Jewish state. Many of these protests have openly endorsed the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians as legitimate “resistance” and called for the destruction of the Jewish state altogether. Anti-Israel activists within Michigan have also organized demonstrations to show support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and mourn the death of terrorist kingpins such as Hassan Nasrallah.
Dearborn Mayor Mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D-MI) cautioned that Slotkin’s chances in her Senate race were jeopardized by her position on the ongoing war in Gaza. Hammoud suggested that frustration over Israel’s defensive military campaign could deflate voter enthusiasm among the Arab American community.
“Apathy is obviously growing, and apathy is very dangerous for down-ballot seats,” Hammoud told the Times. “For the control of the US Senate and for the White House, it’s the people who sit at home who more than likely will determine the outcome of this election.”
In the final weeks of the campaign, Slotkin appeared to temper her support of Israel, citing “deep concerns” over its military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah Lebanon.
“It is not hard for me as someone who’s served three tours in Iraq, who watched the American military fail in places like Anbar Province and Ramadi and Falluja, to have deep concerns about what’s going on with the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and now in Lebanon,” Slotkin said. “You can express empathy and concern and nuance, even when conversations are difficult.”
Despite outsized media attention on the Israel-Hamas war, few Michigan voters cited foreign policy as a top concern. Around 40 percent of Michigan voters indicated jobs and the economy as their most important issues, according to AP VoteCast. The same poll showed that around 20 percent and 10 percent of voters cited immigration and abortion as their top issues, respectively.
The post Jewish, Pro-Israel Democrat Edges Out Senate Race Victory in Michigan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.