Michigan Democrats Purge Jewish Regent, Back Hezbollah-Praising Candidate

In a dramatic Sunday night vote at the Michigan Democratic Party’s state convention, progressive activists ousted Jordan Acker — a Jewish incumbent endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — from the University of Michigan Board of Regents, replacing him with Amir Makled, an anti-Israel attorney who has represented pro-Palestinian campus protesters and praised Hezbollah. The move came as Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed told CNN that the Israeli government is just as “evil” as Hamas — calling Netanyahu a war criminal. Together, the two developments mark the sharpest single-day signal yet of the Michigan Democratic Party’s hostile drift on Israel in the critical 2026 cycle.

• Amir Makled defeated incumbent regent Jordan Acker at the Michigan Democratic state convention Sunday night — despite Acker’s endorsement from Gov. Whitmer and the SEIU union pulling its backing from Makled over his Hezbollah praise.
• Abdul El-Sayed, the front-running Michigan Senate Democratic candidate, told CNN he sees no distinction between the Israeli government and Hamas: “Both are evil.” He also called Netanyahu a war criminal and invoked genocide framing.
• Jewish Insider reported Jewish Democrats are increasingly facing “political homelessness” as the Michigan party shifts — a dynamic with direct implications for ICAN’s coalition-building in the state.
• The UMich regent race was framed by activists as a referendum on the university’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters — turning a board of regents election into a battleground for the party’s Israel positioning.
• Michigan’s 2026 Senate race is a must-win for Democrats; the state has the largest Arab-American population per capita in the U.S., creating structural incentives for the hostile drift.

Michigan is ICAN's highest-priority battleground state. The regent ouster and El-Sayed's delegitimization rhetoric represent a coordinated hostile signal series — two data points in a single day showing the state party is actively rewarding anti-Israel positioning. ICAN should track El-Sayed's Senate candidacy as a high-priority threat and monitor whether Makled's regent candidacy becomes a mobilization issue for the Jewish community in Oakland County.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Sunday that Spain will formally request the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement at a meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday. The agreement governs nearly €50 billion in annual bilateral trade. Sánchez invoked Israel’s Death Penalty Law (passed last month) and what he called violations of international law in Gaza as justification. The move — if it advances — would be the most significant economic isolation action against Israel by a Western government since October 7.

• Spain will bring the motion to EU foreign ministers on Tuesday in Luxembourg — the earliest possible vote on the agreement’s suspension.
• The EU-Israel Association Agreement covers trade, cooperation on research, and diplomatic frameworks — suspending it would sever the legal basis for preferential trade terms and academic exchanges.
• The request is unlikely to pass unanimously (required under EU rules) with Germany, France, and Central European states expected to resist — but it signals a broader European political pressure campaign.
• Sánchez’s action drew condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar, who called it “defamatory” and aligned with delegitimization framing.

EU economic isolation of Israel is the next front in the international delegitimization campaign. Even a failed suspension vote normalizes the concept and emboldens individual EU member-state actions. ICAN should track Tuesday's outcome and the voting positions of each EU member — this is the clearest test yet of European institutional resolve.

British police confirmed Sunday they are formally investigating Iranian proxy links to a sustained arson campaign against Jewish sites in London. Two teenagers were arrested as “thugs for hire” in connection with the most recent attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow. The group claiming the attacks, Ashab al-Yamin, has also claimed arson attacks on Jewish targets across Europe. UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the campaign of violence against the Jewish community is “gathering momentum.”

• Scotland Yard’s deputy assistant commissioner confirmed police are investigating whether Ashab al-Yamin, the group claiming the attacks, has links to Iran — consistent with Iranian proxy terror patterns post-October 7.
• Two teenagers were arrested in connection with the Kenton synagogue attack, described by police as “thugs for hire” — suggesting an outsourced operational model for the arson campaign.
• The Metropolitan Police deployed drones over London to protect Jewish community sites, marking an escalation in security posture.
• The attacks follow ICAN’s previous intelligence that Iran-linked groups claimed the Yom HaShoah firebombing wave — this is the same threat actor, confirming pattern continuity.

Iran's proxy terror against Jewish communities in Western countries is operational, not rhetorical. The outsourced-thugs model makes it harder to trace and easier to scale. ICAN should treat this as a template threat for U.S. Jewish institutions and coordinate with domestic security partners on the Ashab al-Yamin IOC profile.

Argentine President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the “Isaac Accords” Sunday during Milei’s visit to Israel — a new diplomatic framework modeled on the Abraham Accords, designed to deepen ties between Israel and Latin American countries. The initiative, conceived by Milei, invokes “descendants of Isaac and nations of the Judeo-Christian tradition” as its organizing principle and has U.S. backing. Milei also affirmed Argentina’s support for the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, calling it “the right thing to do.”

• The Isaac Accords establish a framework for Israel-Latin America normalization — focusing on trade, security cooperation, counter-terrorism, and countering antisemitism.
• The deal includes a direct Tel Aviv-Buenos Aires flight route, announced alongside the accords — the first direct commercial link between the two countries.
• Milei described the partnership as uniting nations “in defense of freedom and democracy, and in the fight against terrorism, antisemitism, and drug trafficking.”
• U.S. backing for the framework positions it as a second-term Trump foreign policy achievement, extending the Abraham Accords’ regional normalization model into the Western Hemisphere.

The Isaac Accords are a major pro-Israel diplomatic development that expands Israel's global legitimacy at a moment when Spain and the EU are pushing isolation. ICAN should amplify this as a counter-narrative to delegitimization — normalization is gaining momentum, not receding.