A rabbi’s case for Keith Ellison to head the DNC

(RNS) 'I know Keith quite well and I know the anti-Semitism charge against him is totally wrong,' writes Rabbi Steve Gutow.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, speaks during the first session at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Mark Kauzlarich

(RNS) Like it or not, the Jewish community votes Democratic by large percentages in almost every election and because of that we have a great interest in who the next chair of the Democratic Party will be.

Notwithstanding the deep concerns I know some pro-Israel Democrats have about Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and his support of Israel, I endorse him as party chair.

He is simply the best person for the job. Keith has from day one seen his role in American politics as a person who supports common people – white, black, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and so on.


He worries about the poor and so do I. He worries about the hungry, about the immigrant, about the white working person and the black working person. He wants our kids, no matter how poor or how rich, to have a chance to succeed in college. He wants everyone to have a job in which he or she flourishes. He wants older people and sick people to have health care and young people to have an education that will give them a shot at a future. Keith worries about a criminal justice system run askew and wants all of us to be treated fairly.

From this he sounds pretty good, I assume, to most American Jews.

Let’s discuss Israel and anti-Semitism. Here is a little secret. I know Keith quite well and I know the anti-Semitism charge against him is totally wrong.

He was attracted in the 1990s to Louis Farrakhan’s rhetoric for a more empowered black presence in America. But in 2006 he did what few people have ever had the courage to do. He refuted Farrakhan’s virulent anti-Semitism in no uncertain terms: “I have long since distanced myself from and rejected the Nation of Islam due to its propagation of bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas,” he said.

Keith’s attack on the anti-Semitism of the Nation of Islam was loud and unequivocal.

Redemption is something we give when people apologize. And no direct anti-Semitism has ever been attributed to Keith.

I did not hear such an apology when Jewish organizations publicly opposed the building of a mosque at Ground Zero. To speak about opposing the building of a mosque wanders into far more dangerous territory than anything Keith even intimated. Also, I have good friends who in the 1980s and 1990s thought the militant Meir Kahane and his stripe had something positive to say about Jewish power. I’ve heard few apologies like Keith’s from them.

Let’s move to Israel. For me, Israel is a litmus test and if someone does not profess adequate support for the Jewish state, even with her warts, I will not be supporting that candidate.


Keith has supported billions of dollars in aid for Israel, including the Iron Dome defense system. In literally every war in which Israel has been engaged, he has supported Israel’s right to go to war to defend itself. I considered it a mistake the one time he did not support an additional sale of Iron Dome missiles, reasoning at the time that Israel had more than enough at that moment. I disagreed with his vote but I do not think one vote makes a history.

And he worked to help free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive for more than five years by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

In his race for party chair Keith is supported by Sen. Chuck Schumer, clearly not shy about supporting Israel himself. Keith is supported in Minneapolis by a majority of the Jewish community there. If we in the party who are pro-Israel are wise, we will champion people like Keith, who does not see Israel as his first priority but as an important one.

We need Keith more than we need those who see the world through the lens of an Israel that can do no wrong. Those who support Israel but question Israel are the leaders who will bring wavering Democrats into the pro-Israel column.

My first contact with Keith was in 2007, when we both had taken our first food stamp challenge, living for a week on what an average food stamp recipient lives on for a week. We went to the D.C. Kitchen, a food pantry, to cut vegetables for those who took their meals there. I was listening to Keith speak rather gently to his aide, who had assumed that Keith, who had a meeting very soon with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was there for a quick photo op. Keith looked into that man’s eyes and said: “I did not come here to have meetings with the speaker. I came here to help people.”

We both stayed for hours and a woman who took her meals there took charge of our training. She taught us how to cut cucumbers, and we were not very good at it.


A couple of weeks Keith later sent me a picture of the three of us that read, “To someone to cut cucumbers with.” I have had many, many subsequent conversations with Keith about Israel, America and the world. I would say without hesitation that Keith is someone with whom to build a stronger, more powerful Democratic Party.

(Rabbi Steve Gutow is immediate past president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and a visiting scholar and co-director for Interfaith Advocacy at the New York University Faith and Advocacy Project)

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