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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 after an attack on a synagogue<\/a> in March, which he tied to Israel’s actions in the Middle East. <\/p>\n \u201cMy comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify,\u201d El-Sayed told reporters after he addressed the caucus at a party convention in Lansing. \u201cTo anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.\u201d<\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s apology was his latest attempt to unify Democrats after a bitter primary<\/a> where he defeated U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. He\u2019s eager to push past a series of controversies<\/a> involving allegations of antisemitism, including his association with controversial commentator Hasan Piker.<\/a> He faces Republican nominee Mike Rogers in a race that will help determine control of the Senate.<\/p>\n 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 relatives<\/a> in an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon the week prior.<\/p>\n In a video response at the time, El-Sayed condemned the attack and added that \u201churt people hurt people,\u201d a reference to what happened to Ghazali\u2019s family. Critics accused El-Sayed of justifying Ghazali\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn\u2019t the time for context,\u201d El-Sayed said on Saturday, \u201cand you don\u2019t ever want to trample somebody\u2019s pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n