Opinion: Tlaib insults Jewish leader. Whitmer shouldn’t tolerate it.

This column was updated to add new information.
My Michigan friends know that there’s hardly anything I see eye to eye on with Democratic state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is about as liberal as they come. 
Yet, to my surprise, I found myself taking her side in a new controversy involving criminal charges against student protesters and an obnoxious accusation cast by Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Nessel this month announced that her office would charge 11 individuals – mostly students and alumni – involved in protests this year at the University of Michigan. 
The student protests related to the Israel-Hamas war, which riled campuses around the country, created extreme disruptions in this state, most notably at the University of Michigan. Most of those whom Nessel charged were pro-Palestinian protesters.
“A college campus should be a place where the exploration and sharing of ideas and opinions is able to flourish, but conviction in your ideals is not an excuse for violations of the law,” Nessel stated in a news release. “A campus should not be lawless; what is a crime anywhere else in the city remains a crime on university property.”
Nessel is right. And I was glad to see she stood up for the rule of law, unlike other prosecutors around the country who have failed to hold unruly students to account. 
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Tlaib wasn’t as thrilled with Nessel’s decision to bring these charges.
Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, seems to think that students and others who broke the law in the name of bashing Israel deserve a free pass. That’s not surprising, given Tlaib’s record of antisemitic comments. Her over-the-top rhetoric after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel even earned her a censure from her U.S. House colleagues. 
In an interview after the charges, Tlaib told the Detroit Metro Times: “We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest. We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs.”
In failing to acknowledge the difference between peaceful protest and other protected First Amendment speech and outright unlawful behavior, Tlaib shows a dangerous level of ignorance.
She didn’t stop there. Tlaib proceeded to insinuate that Nessel, who is Jewish, brought the charges because she must be biased against supporters of Palestinians.
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“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 said. 
If anyone is showing bias here, it’s Tlaib, not Nessel. 
Nessel shot back at Tlaib on X, writing on Friday: “Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.”
On Sunday, Jake Tapper asked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, about the conflict on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 
Whitmer’s answer? “I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” she said.
The governor also declined to defend Nessel’s decision to do her job by bringing charges. And she didn’t condemn Tlaib’s biased comments about the attorney general. A day later, Whitmer offered a statement to Tapper “clarifying” her defense of Nessel, but failed to call out Tlaib by name.
Whitmer’s response is disappointing and earned her the criticism of Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. But it’s in line with how Whitmer has handled other displays of abhorrent behavior. In April, it took the governor more than a week to condemn chants of “death to America” at a protest in Dearborn, Michigan. 
As a champion of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign – and previously President Joe Biden’s campaign – Whitmer is clearly making a calculated decision that she doesn’t want to alienate Michigan’s significant Muslim population, many of whom haven’t been happy with how Biden has continued support for Israel.
It may not be that simple, though. For example, over the weekend, the mayor of the Muslim-majority city of Hamtramck announced he would endorse former President Donald Trump, calling him a “man of principles.”
Regardless of where we are in an election year, it shouldn’t be so hard for politicians like Whitmer to call out bias – even within her own party. 
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.