Mike Rogers Slams Abdul El-Sayed’s ‘Apology’ To Jews As Political Theater

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed attempted to explain comments he made after a March terrorist attack on a Detroit-area synagogue, but Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers quickly dismissed the Democrat’s remarks as an insincere political maneuver.

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El-Sayed addressed the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus at the state Democratic Party’s convention in Lansing on Saturday, telling reporters after the convention that his response to the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township had been inappropriate.

“My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify,” El-Sayed said. “To anybody who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”

El-Sayed also said that he had tried to provide “context” for the attack when he should have simply condemned it.

“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,” he said.

The comments came months after a Muslim man intentionally drove a truck into Temple Israel and opened fire on a security guard in what federal authorities described as Hezbollah-inspired terrorism against Jews. In his initial response, El-Sayed condemned the attack but also attempted to explain it, saying that “violence is a cycle” and “hurt people hurt people.”

El-Sayed continued his efforts to mend relations with Michigan’s Jewish community Monday, posting on X that he was “grateful” to join the Michigan Jewish Democrats at their Summer Simcha event. “There is so much more that we agree on than what divides us,” El-Sayed wrote. “Glad to share space with this thoughtful, vibrant community.”

Rogers, however, said El-Sayed’s latest remarks did not amount to a genuine apology. “When someone says you might have been offended by what I said, that’s not an apology,” Rogers said in an interview with Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends. “He has a long history, Brian, of antisemitic comments, inflammatory comments. He’s angry. He’s aggressive.”

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Rogers argued that El-Sayed’s change in tone was driven by political pressure rather than a genuine change in his views, especially since El-Sayed’s campaign is attempting to attract Jewish Democrats uncomfortable with his record.

“The polling said, hey, he needed to change this,” Rogers said, pointing to what he described as a growing number of Jewish Democrats in Michigan supporting his campaign. “We’ve had big events. That group is swelling by the day. So that was his sad attempt, I think, to try to stem that bleeding.”

“But listen, you are who you are,” he added. “This guy is so thick with that angry rhetoric about antisemitism, and it is causing real problems around the state.”

El-Sayed’s apology comes amid broader scrutiny of his relationship with Hasan Piker, the America-hating political streamer who campaigned alongside El-Sayed during the Democratic primary. El-Sayed has said he does not plan to campaign with Piker during the general election, but has stopped well short of condemning him.

The Democratic nominee defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the August primary despite concerns from some Jewish Democrats over his views on Israel and his associations with Piker. 

Rogers said those concerns are becoming increasingly apparent.

“We talked to a Jewish woman the other day, University of Michigan, who has to hide her Star of David because she’s afraid to walk to class because of the aggressive behavior toward her because she’s Jewish,” Rogers said. “We’ve got to stop this.”

“Abdul’s too extreme for this state,” he added. “And we’re going to beat him in November.”

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