Michigan Dem AG Blasts Party's Senate Nominee Over Synagogue Terror Response

Michigan's Democratic attorney general is publicly breaking with her own party's U.S. Senate nominee over his response to the attempted terrorist attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue, accusing him of making excuses for domestic terrorism.

Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, leveled the criticism in an interview released this week, saying Abdul El-Sayed's reaction to the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield still has not been retracted months later -- and that the silence has her concerned.

Federal investigators say the gunman was inspired and radicalized by Hezbollah and crashed into the synagogue seeking to kill as many Jewish people as possible. The attack targeted a congregation that includes a preschool, and Nessel said El-Sayed's remarks read as an attempt to rationalize it.

'That's the kind of mentality that bothers me a lot'

The friction centers on a video El-Sayed released after the attack in which he reflected on the violence with the line that 'hurt people hurt people.' Critics, including Nessel, saw it as sympathizing with the attacker rather than condemning him.

'A lot of us perceived that as sort of making excuses for somebody who sought to murder over 100 pre-K schoolchildren,' Nessel said. 'And that's the kind of mentality that bothers me a lot.'

She added: 'You can't make excuses for that kind of domestic terrorism.'

Nessel contrasted El-Sayed's response with her own handling of the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre, when she visited a Dearborn mosque, wore a hijab out of respect and unequivocally condemned Islamophobia. She said she never tried to explain away the shooter's motives.

'I just condemned it unequivocally, and I think that's what people should have done with Temple Israel,' she said.

A retraction that hasn't come

Nessel credited El-Sayed for outreach to Jewish leaders in recent months, but said that is not enough. She believes he privately regrets the remarks, yet he has not publicly withdrawn them or said he misspoke.

'Here we are, it's almost the end of August, and he still has not withdrawn those statements,' Nessel said. 'And it has me concerned that he really stands by them.'

She also flagged a post-primary comment in which El-Sayed referenced 'breaking bread with Jews at Passover' -- a holiday when bread is deliberately not eaten -- as evidence he needs a deeper understanding of Jewish faith and history.

Nessel warned the same logic El-Sayed applied to the synagogue attack could be used to excuse other violence, including attacks on the United States. 'It's a dangerous, dangerous world to live in, where you have somebody who supports that kind of logic,' she said.

An already messy Democratic race

The criticism lands on top of a long list of controversies surrounding El-Sayed's campaign, including his repeated attacks on Israel and AIPAC, his public association with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, and his refusal to say whether he hopes for an endorsement from Jewish state Sen. Jeremy Moss.

Nessel previously said she would not attend the state party's nominating convention over fears of antisemitic harassment, accusing the party of allowing members accused of antisemitic acts to attend.

Despite it all, Nessel made clear she will not cross party lines. She said she would 'amputate my right arm' before voting for Republican nominee Mike Rogers, arguing a GOP Senate majority would be dangerous, and stressed that she shares far more in common with El-Sayed on policy than with Rogers.

El-Sayed, who in March said he was 'horrified and heartbroken' by the attack and declared there is 'no room for antisemitism in America,' did not respond to requests for comment on Nessel's latest remarks.

What to watch in Michigan

The showdown is a test of how much intraparty tension Michigan Democrats can absorb in one of the nation's most competitive Senate races. Jewish voters are a pivotal bloc in the battleground state, and El-Sayed's path to victory may depend on winning back those who have been alienated.

Whether El-Sayed finally issues the public retraction Nessel is demanding -- and whether other Democratic leaders follow her lead -- will shape the race in the closing stretch before November.