Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for comment about Michigan synagogue attack

Democratic Senate nominee is eager to push past series of controversies involving allegations of antisemitism

Michigan’s Democratic US senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed apologized to the state’s Jewish Democratic Caucus on Saturday for comments he made after an attack on a synagogue in March, which he tied to Israel’s actions in the Middle East.

“My comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify,” El-Sayed told reporters after he addressed the caucus at a party convention in Lansing. “To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”

El-Sayed’s apology was his latest attempt to unify Democrats after a bitter primary where he defeated US House member Haley Stevens. He’s eager to push past a series of controversies involving allegations of antisemitism, including his association with controversial commentator Hasan Piker. He faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers in a race that will help determine control of the Senate after the midterms in November.

In March, a man attacked Temple Israel synagogue in a Detroit suburb, ramming his car into the building and opening fire on a security guard before dying by suicide.

The man, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, had lost four relatives in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the week prior.

In a video response at the time, El-Sayed condemned the attack and added that “hurt people hurt people,” a reference to what happened to Ghazali’s family. Critics accused El-Sayed of justifying Ghazali’s actions.

“What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn’t the time for context,” El-Sayed said on Saturday. “And you don’t ever want to trample somebody’s pain.”