Haley Stevens Strengthens
the US-Israel Relationship
and Fights Antisemitism.
Andy Levin Does Not

ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN, FORMER NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (1987 – 2015)
T

he race between
Democratic U.S.
House colleagues Andy
Levin and Haley Stevens
in Michigan’s new 11th
congressional district has
captured national attention.
Some see it through
the prism of defending a
Democratic majority and
debate the propriety of
Levin declining to battle a
Republican opponent in his
district only to challenge
Stevens for her now safe seat.
My three-decade career as
national director of the Anti-
Defamation League, however,
directs my attention to the
twin issues of antisemitism
and Israel — issues for which
this race is the crucible of
markedly different approaches
by Stevens and Levin.
It is my belief that
Stevens and her like-minded
colleagues promote a strong
U.S.-Israel relationship
and meaningfully combat
antisemitism while Levin and
his fellow travelers do not.
Here’s why:
Our country’s relationship
with Israel is unique
in the world. For both
Republican and Democratic
administrations Israel has
been one of our closest allies,

a credit to the American
people who are uniquely pro-
Israel and consistently elect
a Congress reflecting their
sentiment. The international
community, however, is a very
hostile place for the Jewish
state.
It is within this context
that we must ask the related
questions of what it means
for a member of Congress
to be pro-Israel and a
fighter of antisemitism —
to walk the walk and not
just talk the talk. Stevens
and Levin represent starkly
differing approaches with
Stevens’ demonstrably more
constructive than the other.
As concerns
Israel, Stevens’ camp
understands it to be the
Middle East’s sole democracy,
forced to fight existential
threats since its birth. It
respects our two nations’
deep democratic, moral and
strategic bonds and seeks to
strengthen them, push back
on cynical anti-Israel attacks
from abroad and handle
inevitable disagreements
between our two countries in
a way befitting close friends
— in private. Stevens and her
congressional coterie are pro-
Israel in just this way.

The other camp — Levin’s
— adopts a paternalistic
and sometimes hostile view.
In “protecting Israel from
itself ” they dismiss the
country’s history and strategic
challenges and eagerly pile
on to international enmity
publicly berating Israel as
a human rights suspect
seemingly solely responsible
for its ongoing conflict with
the Palestinians. While
a minority viewpoint in
Congress it is nonetheless the
one to which Levin subscribes
and irrespective of good
intentions it is damaging to
the U.S.-Israel relationship.
On combatting antisemitism
the analysis is simpler
still. Fighting this scourge
first requires recognizing
it. The unfortunate truth is
that antisemitism exists in
this country on both ends
of the political spectrum. To
maintain, as Levin does, that
this hatred is the exclusive
province of far-right white
supremacists is to ignore its
place in the politics of the left.
Neither partisanship nor
ideological commitment can
be allowed to excuse this
form of racism, something
Levin has done in his denial
of its existence within his

ideological cadre and his
public defense of close
colleagues Democratic Reps.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida
Tlaib. By contrast, Stevens
focuses on the issue, not the
politics, and consistently
pushes back on antisemitism
from whatever corner it
emanates. To be clear, Levin
abhors antisemitism no less
than Stevens, but fighting it
requires doing so wherever
it is found, not just in your
political opposite.
For but one example of how
differently Stevens and Levin
and their respective groups
understand antisemitism and
the U.S.-Israel relationship
take their reactions to
Amnesty International’s recent
libelous demonization of Israel
as “an apartheid state.” Stevens
immediately condemned
this “unjustifiable” slander’s
“threat of delegitimization”
to the Jewish state. Levin, a
prolific tweeter never hesitant
to condemn alleged Israeli
human rights abuses, also had
an instructive response to this
vicious attack: silence.
While it is not my place
here to weigh in on other
issues, as concerns Israel and
antisemitism, the voters of
Michigan’s new 11th district
have a clear choice between
Stevens and Levin. •

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Originally printed inThe Detroit News opinion section, 5/10/22

www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2022/05/10/opinion-stevens-better-friend-israel-than-levin/9701382002/