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El-Sayed apologizes for 'hurt people hurt people' synagogue comments
Lansing, MichiganPublished 31 Aug 2026
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · source
Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee says he never justified the Temple Israel attack; GOP rival Mike Rogers and some Jewish Democrats say the apology is late and incomplete.
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, apologized Saturday to the state party’s Jewish Caucus for a March video that said “hurt people hurt people” after the Temple Israel attack in West Bloomfield Township. He said he made a mistake, should have stopped at condemning the attack, and did not intend to justify it. Republican nominee Mike Rogers called the apology too little, too late. Some Jewish Democrats said they needed to hear it; others remain skeptical, including over El-Sayed’s ties to streamer Hasan Piker.
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El-Sayed apologizes to Jewish Democrats as he seeks to bridge party divides
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
El-Sayed said he does not ever want his comments to hurt anybody’s feelings.
El-Sayed told CNN it is important people understand he takes seriously the pain of all communities in the state.
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate.
The path would grow more complicated if Democrats lost the seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters.
El-Sayed’s Saturday speech did not attack AIPAC, a frequent primary target.
El-Sayed pointed to more than $60 million spent against him but did not name the group.
At Saturday’s Lansing convention, primary fissures had all but disappeared.
Several hundred Democrats gave El-Sayed one of the day’s loudest cheers and applauded his nine-minute speech.
Delegate Norma McDaniel said she opposed El-Sayed in the primary but his speech won her over.
El-Sayed used the convention to make inroads with the party’s most active Jewish members.
Saturday’s crowd was smaller than the spring gathering, where pro-Palestinian activists booed Democrats they saw as insufficiently critical of Israel.
Jewish Democrats in the room said they considered El-Sayed’s apology sincere.
Delegate Daniel Rivkin said it was the first time he had heard El-Sayed say it that explicitly.
El-Sayed said they may not agree on everything.
Rivkin said there is a lot of dialogue going on and that it will continue.
The Summer Simcha gathering is private.
Piker has said his comments were not meant to be taken as antisemitic.
El-Sayed said he wanted to reach Piker’s massive audience of young progressives.
Piker criticized Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish, for failing to endorse El-Sayed.
Opinion
El-Sayed said a conversation about a Twitch streamer is not a serious conversation.
McDaniel said El-Sayed is very articulate and knows how to hit people’s hearts.
McDaniel said El-Sayed reached her heart today.
McDaniel said Democrats have to unify against what’s going on in Washington.
El-Sayed said he believes in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike.
El-Sayed said he will not stop fighting for Palestinian self-determination because money spent to foreclose on it should have been spent in the U.S.
El-Sayed said U.S. tax dollars should be spent here.
Rivkin said Democrats have to work for every vote.
El-Sayed said Michigan can disagree agreeably on foreign policy and still stand together at home.
Rivkin said some real progressives are nevertheless still struggling.
CNN said El-Sayed is not conceding all concerns some Jewish Democrats have raised.
El-Sayed said the campaign is about affordability, Trump, and religious pluralism.
CNN said El-Sayed is scrambling this weekend to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats.
El-Sayed said all that they hold dear is on the line.
El-Sayed said it is time to unite around taking that on.
El-Sayed apologizes to those hurt by comments after synagogue attack
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
The IDF said Ibrahim Ghazali, brother of attacker Ayman Ghalazi, was a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Jewish voters identifying as Democrats and independents posted an open letter saying they intend to vote for Mike Rogers.
Moss and Nessel are among prominent Democrats who have not endorsed El-Sayed after he won the primary.
State Sen. Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish, did not attend the Aug. 29 caucus meeting but said he heard the conversation with El-Sayed went well.
Moss said the apology was something that a lot of people in that room needed to hear.
The letter’s 300-plus signers include Brian Hermelin, president of the Jewish Federation of Detroit.
El-Sayed told reporters Michigan Democrats need to come together as a party.
The report is datelined Lansing.
Opinion
The letter said El-Sayed’s politics and allies have included demonization of Jews, equivocation on terrorism, and hatred of Israel.
The letter said El-Sayed’s core messages are bad for the Democratic Party and harmful to Michigan’s Jewish community.
The letter cited fears that an El-Sayed win would make far-left and anti-Jewish elements dominant in the Democratic Party, including in 2028.
Moss told The Detroit News he sees real efforts to make sure 11th District voices are heard in the Democratic tent.
The letter concluded they cannot allow El-Sayed to become the Democratic standard-bearer or Michigan’s senator.
Moss said the Jewish Caucus remarks are a significant part of that process.
El-Sayed said making the race about a streamer in California is missing the boat.
El-Sayed said the race is about affordability in Michigan.
El-Sayed said the race is about being able to see a doctor in Michigan.
Rogers said Michiganders see El-Sayed as a conman.
El-Sayed said the race is about Donald Trump’s disastrous policies in Michigan.
El-Sayed said this election is not about the past.
El-Sayed said if Democrats are serious about democracy, unions, and health care, they must unify to win in November.
El-Sayed said this election is about the future.
Abdul el Sayed apologizes to Michigan Jews for controversial synagogue attack statement
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
The FBI called the attack a targeted act of violence.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the attack was antisemitic and stemmed from hate, plain and simple.
El Sayed said Ghazali tried to take it out on innocent children who shared a faith with the children he lost.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin strongly condemned the violence and urged people to call out antisemitism.
El Sayed said in the March statement that as an epidemiologist he has studied the worst things that happen to people to learn how to stop them.
El Sayed and Rogers agreed to an Oct. 8 debate.
Opinion
The Examiner described the West Bloomfield synagogue attack as Hezbollah-inspired.
The Examiner described the attacker as a rifle-wielding Islamic terrorist.
The Examiner called El Sayed a socialist.
The Examiner said El Sayed has faced controversy over anti-Israel views.
The Examiner said El Sayed is one of many socialist Democrats who have risen ahead of the midterms.
El-Sayed apologizes to Jewish Democrats for synagogue attack comment
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
El-Sayed is seeking to ease concerns among Jewish voters ahead of the November election.
El-Sayed has faced scrutiny over his stance on Israel and Gaza and over commentators critical of Israel.
Hakeem Jeffries called Piker’s remarks dangerous and antisemitic.
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Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for his comments about Michigan synagogue attack
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
El-Sayed said giving the right medicine at the wrong time makes it the wrong medicine, and he gave it at the wrong time.
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El-Sayed Apologizes For Past Remarks About Michigan Synagogue Attack
Published 30 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
El-Sayed said he believes in the safety and dignity of Jewish kids like his own kids.
El-Sayed said if you invite him in, he will come.
El-Sayed said he is looking forward to continuing that conversation.
Opinion
El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel’s violence against Palestinians has drawn outsized attention in the primary and general campaigns.
El-Sayed said people have to come together as folks who know what it is like to be told they are not enough-of.
El-Sayed said they have to come together around mutual safety and that he is committed to that.
El-Sayed said they may not always agree but he wants to show how they can disagree agreeably.
Abdul El-Sayed apologizes for his past Temple Israel comments in meeting with state’s Jewish Dem caucus
Published 29 Aug 2026 accessed 31 Aug 2026
Facts
The attack targeted the West Bloomfield synagogue preschool.
The Senate nominee spoke about his earlier remarks on the synagogue attack.
The apology was in response to a question from a Jewish Democrat in attendance.
Asked if he would support a two-state solution if elected, El-Sayed pivoted.
El-Sayed said he is open to a two-state solution if that is what free Palestinians and Jewish Israelis decide.
Not all of El-Sayed’s answers pleased the room.
The two-state answer did not sit well with some, even as the apology was broadly appreciated.
Kasen said she was less comfortable with what El-Sayed said about not supporting a two-state solution.
Kasen said her opinion of El-Sayed improved after the meeting because of the apology.
Kasen said she is now going to be enthusiastically voting for El-Sayed.
Some longtime Jewish Democratic voters have defected to the Republican opponent.
Kasen said she was probably a more reluctant voter for him beforehand.
Organizers said Saturday attendance was less than one-third of the spring Jewish caucus.
Zach Nessel criticized the state party for not promptly removing the agitators.
Zach Nessel told JTA that Jews in the party have a right to be concerned.
Jeremy Moss was at the convention Saturday but did not attend the Jewish caucus events.
El-Sayed ally Amir Makled, a University of Michigan regents nominee, also addressed the caucus.
Members said it was hard to get much of the Jewish community onboard given El-Sayed’s positions.
Makled is an attorney for pro-Palestinian encampment members and had pushed out a Jewish pro-Israel incumbent.
Michigan has an estimated 100,000 Jews, and the Senate race is polling in a dead heat.
Makled did not mention retweeting Candace Owens or sharing praise for Hezbollah leaders.
Jewish caucus members shared anxieties about their scrutinized role in the midterms.
One attendee asked how to unify the community to put the country first.
The meeting was in Lansing, Michigan.
Opinion
El-Sayed’s acceptance speech said tax money should be spent on Americans’ kids and schools instead of being dropped as a bomb on somebody else.
El-Sayed said it is incoherent to start with a two-state solution and say figure out how to work here.
El-Sayed said the starting point is equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis.
A delegate said Jewish safety in America relies on what public figures say and how they advocate for Jews.
El-Sayed said the U.S. has been aiding a government that wants to foreclose a second state.
Rebecca Kasen said she really liked him apologizing for misspeaking.
Kasen told JTA everyone has made comments they later regret.
Zach Nessel said the Democratic Party needs to put more work into addressing those concerns.
Zach Nessel said that cannot happen without showing up.
Makled said Michigan will never have a university where students are punished because their speech makes the powerful uncomfortable.
Members were concerned about election security and felt flipping the Senate was crucial.
The attendee said they have a hard time doing that.