Governor Whitmer Refuses to Support Michigan Attorney General in Prosecuting Anti-Israel Demonstrators | Politics

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is declining to again state Attorney General Dana Nessel, a fellow Democrat, who has been attacked by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over Nessel’s resolution to cost anti-Israel campus demonstrators on the University of Michigan for assaulting police and fascinating in ethnic intimidation, amongst different alleged crimes.

Tlaib has additionally suggested that Nessel is just charging the protesters as a result of she’s Jewish. Nessel has publicly decried the congresswoman’s characterization as antisemitic and improper.

Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether or not Whitmer agrees with Tlaib’s argument that Nessel is just charging the protesters as a result of she’s Jewish, the Michigan governor declined to weigh in.

“I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” Whitmer stated on CNN’s “State of the Union” present Sunday morning.  

“I can just say this: You know, we do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses, and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out. And I’m going to use every lever of mine to ensure that both are true.”

“I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” @GovWhitmer stated on @CNNSOTU present Sunday morning with @jaketapper.

“I can simply say this: You know, we do need to ensure that college students are secure on our campuses, and we acknowledge that each individual has… pic.twitter.com/2uCGD9hBPq

— Jewish Insider (@J_Insider) September 22, 2024

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt sharply criticized Whitmer for not talking up extra aggressively in opposition to antisemitism. “Governor Whitmer, when your attorney general prosecutes people for violating the law, harassing Jews, and attacking police officers, it’s in the interest of public safety. When a congresswoman accuses the attorney general of prosecuting protestors simply because she’s Jewish, it’s bias,” Greenblatt said on X.

“Saying you want to “make sure that students are safe on our campuses” is simply phrases if you're not keen to use your bully pulpit to converse out unequivocally on antisemitism and help holding individuals accountable for violating the legislation when it impacts Jews.”

Whitmer spokesperson Stacey LaRouche later issued a follow-up assertion providing a clearer protection of Nessel, with out particularly defending the Michigan lawyer normal’s prosecution of the anti-Israel protesters. The assertion didn't point out Tlaib.

“Governor Whitmer has been very clear in denouncing all anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, racist, and sexist language targeted toward communities in our state. The hateful rhetoric and racist tropes that have been lobbed at people, simply for who they are and what faith they practice, is unacceptable,” LaRouche stated in an announcement. “Attorney General Nessel has spent her career defending the rights of Michiganders to live freely and safely in our state. Her office has centered impartiality and fairness in every decision to uphold the rule of law equally.”

Earlier this month, Nessel charged 9 anti-Israel demonstrators — and two counterprotesters — concerned in incidents on the University of Michigan relating to the varsity’s anti-Israel protest encampment.

Nessel’s workplace charged seven demonstrators with assaulting or resisting police, a felony punishable by up to two years in jail. Two were charged with misdemeanor trespassing, carrying a most penalty of 30 days in jail. A college alumnus can also be charged with disturbing the peace and tried ethnic intimidation.

Nessel stated she pursued felony prices in opposition to those that “physically placed their hands or bodies against police” or “physically obstructed an arrest.”

Tlaib publicly slammed Nessel for her resolution to cost the demonstrators, telling the Detroit Metro Times: “It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”

Tlaib went on: “This is a move that’s going to set a precedent, and it’s unfortunate that a Democrat made that move. You would expect that from a Republican, but not a Democrat, and it’s really unfortunate.”

Nessel responded sharply to Tlaib on Friday, insinuating that the congresswoman has been making antisemitic feedback that the lawyer normal can’t carry out her job pretty. Her feedback got here in a tweet criticizing a Detroit News cartoon portraying Tlaib subsequent to an exploding pager, which most Michigan Democrats have been publicly condemning. 

But Nessel, in her public feedback, took the chance to each converse out in opposition to each the cartoon and Tlaib’s habits, which she tagged as antisemitic. 

Nessel first spoke out in opposition to Tlaib final November, after the congresswoman defended protesters’ use of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as an aspirational name for freedom. 

At the time, Nessel wrote to Tlaib on X: “I have supported and defended you countless times, even when you have said the indefensible, because I believed you to be a good person whose heart was in the right place. But this is so hurtful to so many. Please retract this cruel and hateful remark.”

Tlaib didn’t reply.

This story was up to date at 2 p.m. on Sept. 22 to embody feedback from Gov. Whitmer’s workplace and the Anti-Defamation League.