Actor Mandy Patinkin has posted several videos on social media, including one on Friday, urging Jewish voters to support Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed if they’re concerned about their “safety” in the country.
“Jewish safety depends on a real multiracial democracy, and Abdul is the one fighting to protect it,” the “Homeland” and “The Princess Bride” actor said in one such video.
Patinkin, who is also Jewish, said that El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, was pushing a political movement attacking the “rights and dignity of certain people” and argued that El-Sayed was the only candidate fighting for democracy.
“Jewish safety is tied to the health of our democracy,” Patinkin said. “We can’t protect one without protecting the other. And in this Senate race, Abdul is the candidate who understands that and is willing to fight for it.”
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Patinkin continued to voice his support for El-Sayed in another video posted on Sunday, in which he called out efforts to make people “afraid” of the Democratic candidate because of his name and Muslim background, suggesting the criticism was similar to how Jewish people have been treated because of their identity.
“It’s hard for me to hear Muslims and Arabs talked about this way without thinking about our own Jewish history,” Patinkin said. “We know what it’s like to have people treat your identity as a reason to distrust you, to make you seem threatening just because of who you are. I’m not telling anyone what they have to believe about Abdul. I’m asking people to recognize that this kind of talk should sound familiar to Jews.”
“Who is going to protect the democracy that has helped keep Jews safe in America? Abdul,” he added. “Who is going to stand up for the rights of all of us? Abdul. Because I believe protecting our community means protecting the democracy we all depend on. Please vote for Abdul El-Sayed and get him in the Senate seat.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, criticized Patinkin’s “lack of actual knowledge” about whether El-Sayed would support Jewish safety.
“Few candidates have expressed disdain for Jewish safety more than Abdul El-Sayed, who attempted to explain away a terror attack on Jewish preschoolers due to a war on terror 6,000 miles away, and who called the rescue of Jewish hostages from torture, rape, and murder, ‘genocide,’” Menken told Fox News Digital.
El-Sayed caused controversy in March when he responded to an attack on a Michigan synagogue by saying “Hurt people, hurt people.” Federal investigators say a gunman inspired and radicalized by Hezbollah crashed into the place of worship seeking to kill as many Jewish people as he could. The alleged attacker was a Lebanese-born man who a week earlier had lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
El-Sayed later apologized for his comments about the attack.
Menken said the Democratic candidate “refused to endorse the right of Jews to their own identity, opinions, and self-governance, and campaigned alongside Hasan Piker until other Democrats prevailed upon him to stop. And, of course, when confronted about family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and its genocidal antisemitism, El-Sayed has called it an attack on his religion.”
“To call Patinkin deluded and naive would be the height of understatement,” the rabbi added. “El-Sayed’s values are not those that made America a great and welcoming country.”
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Patinkin previously supported New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 campaign, celebrating the first night of Hanukkah with the democratic socialist after he was elected.
Throughout his campaign and since taking office, Mamdani has faced accusations of antisemitism.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.