OPINION:
Michigan Muslim Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed apologized for comments he made after an antisemitic attack on Temple Israel in March and said he didn’t mean to offend anyone by suggesting the 140 children and adult-age Jews inside had it coming. His comments were “misconstrued,” he said.
Hmm. Accidental antisemitism — it can happen, right?
Here’s the backstory: In March, 41-year-old Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, a Muslim from Dearborn, drove his truck loaded with flammable liquids into the side of a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township and began firing a gun. Inside were 140 children and staffers. Security guards at the synagogue shot back, and he ultimately turned his own gun back on himself and died by suicide. Thankfully, none of the preschoolers or adults were injured in the attack, though dozens of responding emergency workers were treated for smoke inhalation. Ghazali, later investigation revealed, committed the act of terror after learning of an Israeli strike against Lebanon that killed some of his family members.
“FBI says a man who crashed his pickup into Michigan synagogue was inspired by Hezbollah,” The Associated Press reported in March, days after the incident.
“Ghazali made a video before the attack at Temple Israel … saying he wanted to ‘kill as many of them as I possibly can,’ said Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit,” the AP went on in its March report.
Enter El-Sayed.
Enter the latest darling of the DSA — the Democratic Socialists of America.
In a video response to the antisemitic attack, El-Sayed first condemned the violence, but then added, “hurt people hurt people” — as if to say when Jews are attacked, it’s due to their own prior hurtful attacks on others; as if to say Hezbollah has a point.
Well, antisemitism really doesn’t get any worse than that. After all, drawing equivalencies between the Jewish people and those whose primary mission in life is to wipe them out of existence is Antisemitism 101. And Antisemitism 201? It’s apologizing in the manner in which El-Sayed then — months later — apologized.
At a Jewish Democratic caucus over the weekend, El-Sayed explained his March remarks as “misconstrued,” but regretful.
“My comments,” he said, The Guardian reported, “may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify. To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”
He also said, The Guardian reported, “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.”
And he also said, according to The Times of Israel: “I made a mistake. If my statement caused pain. I’m sorry. It was not what I intended to do. We issued a statement, of course, condemning [the attack] and that just should have been it, full stop.”
Lame, meet apology.
There are no “ifs” in a real apology. There is no “misconstrued” this; no “misconstrued” that.
An apology for antisemitism should not read like an apology for cutting someone off at the parking lot or for accidentally stealing someone’s parking space.
El-Sayed can apologize all he wants for suggesting Jewish people play as much a role of aggressor as victim in the Israeli war against terrorism; for the recognized right to exist as a nation; for the never-ended fight against Iran, Iranian proxies and the surrounding nations’ radical Muslim terrorists. But an apology doesn’t wipe away his antisemitism. And Jewish voters in Michigan should think hard before accepting an apology for remarks that hint at such intolerance and hatred. Antisemitism has shown itself as an ugly shadow of the Democrat Party, and it wasn’t so long ago that America’s college campuses were filled with the physical manifestations of that ugliness.
Just because someone apologizes doesn’t mean a change of heart, mind or belief has occurred. And it’s very easy for politicians to say whatever they think necessary to win votes and get elected, but then govern however they wish.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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