El-Sayed apologizes for comments he made responding to an attack on a Michigan synagogue

Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed issued an apology on Saturday to the Jewish Democratic Caucus in Michigan for comments he made following a synagogue attack in March. El-Sayed told reporters at a news conference that his remarks may have been misunderstood as justifying the act, which he adamantly denied. He expressed regret for any hurt his words may have caused.

This apology comes after a contentious primary race where El-Sayed defeated U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. He is now seeking to move past controversies surrounding allegations of antisemitism, including his association with a controversial commentator, Hasan Piker. In March, a man attacked the Temple Israel synagogue in a Detroit suburb, fatally shooting a security guard before taking his own life.

The attacker, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, had recently lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon. El-Sayed criticized the attack and referred to it as an example of "hurt people hurting people," but critics accused him of justifying Ghazali's actions.