U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and a group of western Washtenaw County politicians hosted a town hall for community members to voice concerns and ask questions.

Dingell started the town hall at the Chelsea District Library by acknowledging potential constituent concerns.

“If anybody were to write a book (about the last year), nobody would believe it was real,” Dingell said. “I would call it science fiction, not even fiction. There are a lot of people worried about a lot of things… What’s happening in the Mideast probably concerns us here in this state more than any other, but all of us are worried about what will happen to the world if the Mideast does explode. That’s something that’s very much in all of our hearts and minds.”

Jewish constituent Jackie Heymann was the first member of the public to bring up Israel’s war on Gaza, asking Dingell to continue support of a ceasefire and pledge not to accept funds from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“I am not AIPAC’s favorite person,” Dingell said. “People are hurting on both sides, and I am a strong supporter of the two-state solution. I’m very worried. I want a ceasefire. I’ve talked to both the president and the vice president about it in the last couple of weeks. I talked to the president this past week, and he has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he wants a permanent end to this war.”

A second Jewish constituent also asked Dingell to pledge not to take money from AIPAC. Dingell said she doesn’t see AIPAC ever offering to support her in the first place.

“I don’t like to take broad pledges, but I don’t like special interest groups,” she said. “I will meet with them. I meet with everybody. I think that that’s something that’s very important in elected office, is that you sit down and talk to everybody and understand their perspectives. AIPAC is not someone who supports a ceasefire, and I was one of the first people to call for a ceasefire in December because I knew what was happening.” 

Dingell said she lived in Dearborn for 40 years. Her late husband, U.S. Rep. John Dingell, holds the record for the longest serving representative in the House and his district included parts of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. Dingell said she knows a lot of people impacted by the conflict, including one of her constituents who lost 40 family members.

“I know what’s happening there (in the Middle East) more than most do,” she said. “The casework that I’ve done trying to get people out of Gaza. There’s 14-15 people living in a room that’s fuller than this (town hall). They have no bathroom; they’re going out in the hall. They don’t have a way to eat, they don’t have medicine, they don’t have doctors. They’re bombing hospitals. The U.N.  is trying to make sure that humanitarian aid is getting there.”

Dingell also said people in her district are connected to Israeli hostages.

“I was in the synagogue that weekend (of Oct. 7), and people were absolutely sobbing,” she said. “Someone said, ‘how many are connected to people that are hostages?’ And the whole synagogue stood up. I don’t like that (so many people are affected). I know what’s happening in Gaza… I believe what Hamas did was a terrorist act with the senseless murder and taking of those hostages. Hostages need to be released. We’ve seen too many innocent civilians die in Gaza. Lebanon is about to explode. We need a ceasefire.”

Dingell also said she pays close attention to and is worried about “the devastation in Gaza.”

“You’re going to see things happen in the next couple of days, since we (the U.S.) have major diplomats in every key place in the Middle East trying to make that happen,” she said. “We are also sitting here watching as Iran is going to retaliate. It’s just a reality, and that could disrupt everything.”

Constituent Nabil Sater told Dingell he went to Lebanon three months ago to bury his mother, but could not go to the gravesite because Israel bombed it three times. 

Sater critiqued the U.S.’s approach of asking for a ceasefire, then providing weapons to Israel. The U.S. approved the sale of $20 million in weapons to Israel on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

“It’s interesting to me President Biden asks for a ceasefire then makes the phone call that says, ‘send in the bombs,’” he said. “It’s like going to an Alcohol Anonymous meeting and taking whisky with you. I don’t understand this. How do we ask them to stop by sending bombs? How do we ask them to let food (into Gaza)?”

In May, Dingell voted against the House’s Israel Security Assistance Support Act, a bill in support of continuing aid and weapons delivery to Israel after the pause ahead of the invasion of Rafah.

Dingell is running for reelection in District 6 against Republican candidate Heather Smiley on Nov. 5.