Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for his comments about Michigan synagogue attack

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, 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 the Michigan Democratic Nominating Convention in Lansing, Michigan. "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 U.S. Rep. 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.

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."

In response to El-Sayed's remarks on Saturday, Rogers said on social media, in part, "Abdul has had six months to apologize for his incredibly horrific remarks regarding the Temple Israel attack. Instead, he chose to surround himself with terrorist sympathizers and some of the most notable antisemites in the country. It's too little, too late, Abdul."

El-Sayed also discussed his comments at an event hosted by the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus on Sunday, asking for forgiveness.

"I made a mistake. There is opportunity for context later on, but when you give the right medicine at the wrong time, it's the wrong medicine and I gave it at the wrong time. Folks didn't need to hear it, didn't want to hear it; it was not the right thing to say," he said Sunday.