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/

