El-Sayed apologizes to Jewish Democrats for statement about synagogue attack
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Lansing, Michigan (CNN) — Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed apologized to Jewish Democrats on Saturday for saying “hurt people hurt people” as part of his response to a March attack on a synagogue near Detroit.
“My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify,” he told reporters after he addressed the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus at the state party’s convention in Lansing. “To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”
“We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright. What I was trying to do is 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,” El-Sayed said.
During the attack, a man rammed his vehicle into a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township and exchanged gunfire with security officers in what the FBI called “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community.”
The assailant, Ayman Ghazali, a naturalized US citizen from Lebanon who killed himself at the scene, lost family in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon a week before the Michigan attack.
In a video after the attack, El-Sayed said his work as an epidemiologist taught him that “hurt people hurt people” and that “violence is a cycle.” But, he said, “There is never a justification for attacking innocent people at houses of worship.”
El-Sayed’s comments come as the progressive firebrand is seeking to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats and unify the party ahead of his November matchup against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in a key race to determining which party wins the Senate majority.
Earlier this week, El-Sayed sought to distance himself from Hasan Piker after the left-wing streamer and activist suggested to his Twitch viewers that American Jews’ support of Israel will make antisemitism worse and invite violence. Piker said his comments weren’t meant to be taken as antisemitic.
After months of campaigning during his hard-fought primary alongside Piker, El-Sayed said in a Monday statement addressing the streamer’s comments that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”
El-Sayed is set to speak Sunday to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus Summer Simcha — a private gathering where he is expected to further address the concerns of Jewish Democrats, including Dana Nessel, the Michigan attorney general, who was sharply critical of his response to the synagogue attack.
Jewish Democrats who were in the room for El-Sayed’s comments Saturday said they considered his apology sincere.
“That was the first time that I’ve heard him say it in that explicit way,” said Daniel Rivkin, a University of Michigan communications staffer from Ann Arbor who is a delegate at the party’s convention.
As for whether El-Sayed needs to further distance himself from Piker, Rivkin said, “That’s up to him.”
“I think there’s a lot of dialogue going on, and that the dialogue will continue,” Rivkin said. “We have to work for every vote. I think that we have progressives who are real progressives who are nevertheless still struggling.”
Asked by CNN on Saturday about Jewish Democrats’ concerns with Piker, El-Sayed said: “We’re in the state of Michigan. If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you’re missing the boat.”
He added: “I don’t ever want my comments to hurt anybody’s feelings. It’s important to me that people understand that I take seriously the pain of all communities in this state.”
The-CNN-Wire
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