Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s governor, said Jewish Americans were “a community on edge” on Friday after security staff thwarted an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue and preschool by a man driving a truck containing explosives.
Whitmer, a Democrat, called Thursday’s assault at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield township the latest episode in the “ancient and rampant evil” of antisemitism, and urged politicians and others to lower the political temperature.
“Yesterday’s attack was antisemitism. It was hate, plain and simple,” she said at a Friday morning press conference.
“We must lower the rhetoric in the state and in this country, especially at this moment where we’ve seen such a rise in antisemitism and more attacks on the Jewish community. We must keep each other close. This community is on the edge.”
Her comments came as Jewish communities across the US warned that increased security is needed at places of worship and gathering to help prevent future acts of violence.
Security staff at Temple Israel reacted quickly to the incident in which the vehicle was rammed into the temple building before bursting into flames and the assailant killed during an exchange of gunfire.
The suspect, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, was a naturalized citizen who was born in Lebanon and, it emerged on Friday morning, had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike the country last week, as the US-Israeli war on Iran widens and intensifies. One security guard at the large synagogue complex received minor injuries and staff, teachers and 140 small children at the temple’s early learning center evacuated to safety.
“Our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe,” Temple Israel said in a community statement following what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called “a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community”.
Elissa Slotkin, a US senator for Michigan and also a Democrat, told the Friday press conference that the attack “could have been much, much worse”, and praised the temple’s private security staff, as well as local law enforcement and first responders.
“If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone,” she said.
Taylor Weintraub, a parent of a five-year-old in the temple’s pre-K class, praised staff for keeping her son and his classmates away from harm.
“He thankfully is blissfully unaware,” she told the Detroit News. “His teachers made it as calm, as much as they could, for them. Told them it was a fire drill and kept them on course and on track and got them out safely. That is something we will forever be grateful for.”
It was revealed on Thursday that the FBI had conducted active shooter training with Temple Israel staff at the synagogue in recent months. “Thanks to preparation and the courage of those on the ground, lives were saved,” Kash Patel, the FBI director, told Fox News Digital.
But the episode has stoked fears of increased violence against Jewish targets in a backlash to the escalating US-Israeli war against Iran. Several leading Jewish American organizations are demanding more funding and resources to further harden security at vulnerable locations.
Security at many synagogues and Jewish centers across the US has been beefed up in recent years with organizations hiring private, armed security guards and training them to deal with the risk of attacks. This was stepped up particularly following the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 that killed 11, the deadliest attack on Jews in US history, and the overwhelming military response by Israel in Gaza after the attack led by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
“This incident is a stark and frightening reminder that Jewish institutions across the US continue to face serious and persistent threats, and the escalating hateful rhetoric in the public discourse puts a target on the backs of all Jews,” the Orthodox Union said in a statement, adding: “Enough is enough. The time has come for our elected officials and people of good conscience to stand up and demand action, including sufficient funding for security at Jewish institutions.”
Ted Deutch, a former US representative and chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, pointed to his group’s recently released report about the escalating level of antisemitism in the US, which showed that 91% of American Jews felt less safe because of previous violent attacks.
“Once again, this time in Detroit, Jews were targeted at their place of worship. Once again, Jews faced mortal danger simply because of who they are,” he said in a statement on X.
He added: “Today in America, when Jews gather, whether at a synagogue or a community event, it’s increasingly behind metal detectors and under the watch of armed security. We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re not asking for more outrage. We’re asking for something simple: that people everywhere stand up, clearly and unequivocally, and say that this violent hatred will no longer be tolerated.”
The Jewish Federations of North America reported last summer that security for the Jewish community cost $765m annually. The amount was “prohibitive”, the organization’s chief executive, Eric Fingerhut, told a House of Representatives subcommittee as he requested congressional help.
The addition of police, security guards and fortification of buildings all made Jewish people feel safer, he said.
Other groups said more action was needed following the West Bloomfield attack, and recent violent incidents including an alleged antisemitic assault this week on two California shoppers who were talking Hebrew to each other.
The Israeli-American Council said in a statement it was horrified by events in Michigan and elsewhere.
“This outrage is the latest in a series of violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions throughout the world, a number of which have resulted in the murder of innocents,” the group said.
