密歇根州民主党参议员候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔-萨耶德（Abdul El-Sayed）周六向该州犹太裔民主党核心小组致歉。此前，在今年3月当地一座犹太教堂遇袭后，他曾发表相关言论，并将该事件与以色列在中东的行动联系起来。
在兰辛市的一场党代会上发表讲话后，埃尔-萨耶德对记者表示：“我的言论可能被误解为在为我本无意辩护的行为开脱。对于任何觉得我的言论可能造成伤害的人，我深表歉意。这绝非我的本意。”
在经历了一场击败联邦众议员海莉·史蒂文斯（Haley Stevens）的激烈初选后，此次致歉是埃尔-萨耶德试图团结民主党人的最新举措。他急于摆脱一系列涉及反犹主义指控的争议，其中包括他与争议评论员哈桑·派克（Hasan Piker）的关联。接下来，他将面对共和党候选人迈克·罗杰斯（Mike Rogers），这场选举将对参议院控制权的归属起到决定性作用。
今年3月，一名男子在底特律郊区袭击了“以色列圣殿”（Temple Israel）犹太教堂。他驾车撞入大楼并向一名保安开枪，随后自杀身亡。该男子阿伊曼·穆罕默德·加扎利（Ayman Mohammad Ghazali）在事发前一周的以色列对黎巴嫩的空袭中失去了四名亲属。
当时，埃尔-萨耶德在一段视频回应中谴责了此次袭击，并补充说“受伤的人会伤害别人”，以此暗指加扎利家人的遭遇。批评人士指责埃尔-萨耶德是在为加扎利的行为辩护。
埃尔-萨耶德周六表示：“我原本试图为事件发生的原因提供背景，但当时并不适合谈论背景，而且你永远不应该践踏他人的痛苦。”
El-Sayed apologizes for comments responding to attack on Michigan synagogue
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 afteran attack on a synagoguein 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 a party convention in Lansing． “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 Democratsafter a bitter primarywhere he defeated U．S． Rep． Haley Stevens． He’s eager to push pasta series of controversiesinvolving allegations of antisemitism， including his association withcontroversial 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 relativesin 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．”
