Michigan Democratic Senate nominee apologizes for March synagogue attack statement

Abdul el Sayed, Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee, apologized on Saturday to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus for a March statement responding to an attack on a West Bloomfield synagogue that critics said minimized antisemitic violence. The apology marks a significant moment in a general election campaign shaped partly by controversy over his response to the March attack. No one was hurt in the incident, including children attending the synagogue's early childhood development program. The FBI called it a targeted act of violence. El Sayed issued a video statement after the attack. According to the Washington Examiner, he said: "As an epidemiologist, I've spent my career studying the worst things that happen to people to understand how to stop them from happening. Hurt people hurt people. Violence is a cycle. Ayman Ghazali lost family, including two children, in an airstrike in Lebanon last week. And then, in an evil act of displaced rage, he tried to take it out on innocent children." The phrase "hurt people hurt people" and the framing of the attacker's grief became focal points of criticism. On Saturday, according to the Washington Examiner, el Sayed told the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus: "If my statement caused pain, I'm sorry. That's not what I intended." He also stated, "I made a mistake. I should have issued a statement, of course condemning it, and it just should have been the full stop." Per CBS News, he told reporters afterward: "My comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify. To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I'm really sorry. That was not my intention." He added: "What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn't the time for context, and you don't ever want to trample somebody's pain." Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senator Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, had strongly condemned the attack. According to the Washington Examiner, Whitmer said the attack "was antisemitic" and stemmed from "hate, plain and simple," and she and Slotkin urged Michiganders to call out antisemitism whenever they see it. Republican nominee Mike Rogers rejected the apology. According to the Washington Examiner, Rogers said el Sayed is "trying to con Michiganders into thinking his beliefs have changed" and argued that "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."