EXCLUSIVE — When the leading pro-Israel PAC chose not to support Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) primary challenger, Don Samuels, financially, one wealthy entrepreneur stepped up to mobilize Jewish voters against the anti-Israel Minnesota “Squad” member.
Michael Sinensky, co-founder of Israel Friends, a charity that has raised over $26 million for Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, told the Washington Examiner he is facing death threats and accusations of Nazi affiliation following a report on his last-minute funding push for Omar’s opposition.
A handful of messages from a WhatsApp group chat were leaked in a Sunday report from the Intercept which detailed the efforts of Sinensky and others to infuse cash into the race. The Washington Examiner obtained every message from the group chat dating back to Oct. 23, 2023.
‘Weaponize our terror’: Setting the record straight on Sinensky
The outlet wrote that Sinensky, who has donated to several Democratic campaigns, “justified his support for the far-right” in messages where he framed the 2024 election landscape as a battle between parties whose fringe groups include “alt right Christian Neo Nazis” in the GOP and “socialist, Marxist, anarchists who are supporting radical Islam” among the Democratic ranks, in which the right-wing radicals are currently the lesser of two evils for Jewish Americans.
The messages were from July 12, a couple of weeks after the June 25 New York Democratic primary, when the group chat was called “Jews for Richie Torres.” The WhatsApp group has undergone three name changes and involved several different groups of people over the course of nine months. It was titled “Zionists for Don Samuels Against Ilhan Omar” during the Minnesota primary campaign, and the group’s name has changed again since.
Omar chided the group for what she described as “discussing their preference for ‘alt right Christian Neo Nazis’” in a Sunday press release responding to the report.
“The media often sensationalizes or mischaracterizes snippets of conversation to support the story they want to tell, and this case was no exception,” Sinensky said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The outlet took screenshots from a private chat without providing the full and honest scope of the larger discussion.”
In his statement and in an interview with the Washington Examiner, he stressed that he was not claiming that the majority or entirety of either party are the extremists that he mentioned, nor does he support any group of extremists listed, but that he was referring to fringe groups in both parties. He believes that the left-wing extremists who align with “radical Islam” present a more imminent threat to Jews in America than the right-wing extremists do.
Sinensky said his statement to the Intercept, despite being “demanded” and provided on the Jewish Sabbath, was “largely ignored” in their coverage. As a result, he chose to “clarify and contextualize what I said” in his statement to the Washington Examiner in addition to sharing his entire original statement.
He explained, “The bottom line is that no Jew wants to support people who hate us. Unfortunately, we are currently living in a nation — and world — where antisemitism has exploded on every side of the political spectrum.”
“The awful position we as Jews find ourselves in is to identify the less imminent threat and hedge for our own survival, distasteful as it may be, in the short term,” he added. “That is how dire and serious the situation is.”
The Jewish entrepreneur said that Omar and her anti-Israel colleagues have “actively contributed to the firestorm that has bred” the rise of hate crimes against Jews following Oct. 7. He mentioned two recent examples of anti-Jewish stabbings in New York, as well as an incident caught on video where his wife was chased into his apartment building by a man yelling, “Die, Jews, die!”
“Instead of having empathy for American Jews, whom the country has put in a position to choose the party whose fringe is the lesser enemy, or unpacking their own role in creating such a horrific zeitgeist,” Sinensky said, “This publication chose to weaponize our terror to further vilify us, only further fanning the flames of antisemitism and hate in general.”
“While I am disappointed, I am not surprised, and in fact, this only further illustrates the need for American Jews to organize and act in our own political interests. Our very survival depends on it,” he added.
AIPAC largely absent from ‘most hateful’ Squad member’s primary
Tuesday’s 14-point victory for Omar fell short of the bigger blowout some were expecting after Lake Research Partners, a polling company associated with her campaign, had the incumbent up 27 points before the election.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee ramped up spending in other efforts to oust fellow “Squad” members such as Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), but as of Aug. 7, AIPAC had only spent $19,000 in advertising for Omar’s race. This came as a surprise to members of the “Zionists for Don Samuels Against Ilhan Omar” WhatsApp group chat.
On July 24, one member asked, “Is AIPAC helping Don Samuels?”
An activist answered, “Not right now which is why this grassroots effort is very important. Thanks to everyone for your support!”
Through a campaign staffer, Samuels addressed the group on the matter. He assured that AIPAC was “absolutely aware of this race, [and] they have engaged with us on a regular basis.”
On July 25, one member speculated that AIPAC may have been hesitant due to “this myth that Ilhan is unbeatable,” as well as “the real possibility that public involvement by AIPAC would backfire.”
She explained that there is “a lot of latent antisemitism” in Minneapolis, which she noted was once known as the most antisemitic city in the United States. ‘“AIPAC’ is a dog whistle, a stand-in for ‘Jews and their $$ control of the world.’ Ilhan knows this and weaponizes it.”
With AIPAC focused on other races, Sinensky and company stepped up to help defeat Omar, who Samuels has referred to as a “pawn for Hamas” due to her anti-Israel statements and positions.
“Don only lost by less than 2,500 votes or 2% in 2022,” Sinensky told the group on July 28. “We do not need millions from AIPAC. We can win this with $100k in donations from all of us.”
He continued, “We cannot stand by while the leader of the squad — the most hateful one — is vulnerable without a last ditch effort to fire her from American politics.”
On Aug. 8, Sinensky responded to another member inquiring if AIPAC will be supporting Samuels, “They are not, they don’t think their $ can help defeat her. They think it will hurt the grass roots effort that is more strong in this district as proven by the last race.”
He added, “We have collectively raised more than what AIPAC put in last race.”
AIPAC contributed $350,000 to Omar’s opposition in 2022 through the United Democracy Project. However, according to Jewish Insider, AIPAC felt that “Don [Samuels] has reached his capacity” after he lost the 2022 primary against the anti-Israel Democrat.
While AIPAC mostly watched Omar’s 2024 race from the sidelines, Sinensky and his group worked tirelessly to get thousands of Republicans to switch parties to vote for Samuels in addition to raising hundreds of thousands toward the effort to oust Omar.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“In the case of unseating Omar,” Sinensky said they had “a unicorn of an opportunity” in Samuels, who he described as “a candidate who stands for values I (and most Americans) support, who also represents a place in the Democratic Party in which Jews are not excluded from social justice.”
“I will not apologize for exercising my democratic right to support him,” he said.
Read Sinensky’s full statement to the Washington Examiner:
The media often sensationalizes or mischaracterizes snippets of conversation to support the story they want to tell, and this case was no exception. The outlet took screenshots from a private chat without providing the full and honest scope of the larger discussion. A statement I provided to the outlet prior to publication was largely ignored, despite being demanded on the Jewish Sabbath and being promptly delivered. I am taking this opportunity to clarify and contextualize what I said: The bottom line is that no Jew wants to support people who hate us. Unfortunately, we are currently living in a nation—and world—where antisemitism has exploded on every side of the political spectrum. The awful position we as Jews find ourselves in is to identify the less imminent threat and hedge for our own survival, distasteful as it may be, in the short term. That is how dire and serious the situation is.
Here is our reality living as a Jew today. Not long after the horrors of October 7th, my wife was chased into our apartment building by a man yelling, “Die, Jews, die.” Just this past weekend, two visibly Jewish men, in separate incidents, were stabbed—one by a man yelling, “Free Palestine.” I, and many fellow Jews, believe wholeheartedly that rhetoric perpetuated by Ilhan Omar and ‘The Squad’ has actively contributed to the firestorm that has bred these dangerous hate crimes. I believe this growing brand of Jew hate is an imminent threat to the Jewish people. Of course, I find Nazis abhorrent—almost my entire family was exterminated in the Holocaust—but there is no side on either end of the current political spectrum that is truly safe for Jews. We have been forced into the position of siding with whomever is less unsafe at this particular moment. And that is not “The Squad.”
Even in the published screenshot, I offered the example of Ukraine, where our humanitarian contributions have supported the resistance to Russia’s invasion, despite having to accept the cooperation of the Azov Brigade (and their long-held Neo-Nazi ties) because their resistance is actively protecting Ukrainian Jews right now.
Instead of having empathy for American Jews, whom the country has put in a position to choose the party whose fringe is the lesser enemy, or unpacking their own role in creating such a horrific zeitgeist, this publication chose to weaponize our terror to further vilify us, only further fanning the flames of antisemitism and hate in general. While I am disappointed, I am not surprised, and in fact, this only further illustrates the need for American Jews to organize and act in our own political interests. Our very survival depends on it.
For American Jews who disagree with my assessment, that is entirely their (and nobody else’s) prerogative, and I encourage them to support whichever candidates they believe best ensure our safety, which is exactly what I am doing.
In the case of unseating Omar, we have a unicorn of an opportunity: a candidate who stands for values I (and most Americans) support, who also represents a place in the Democratic Party in which Jews are not excluded from social justice. That unicorn is Don Samuels, and I will not apologize for exercising my democratic right to support him.
G-d Bless America & Am Yisroel Chai.
