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U.S. federal authorities say a man who drove his pickup truck into a synagogue in suburban Detroit earlier this month carried out the attack after being inspired by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The FBI identified the attacker as Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old man from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. According to Jennifer Runyan, the head of the FBI’s Detroit field office, Ghazali recorded a video before the attack in which he said he intended to “kill as many of them as I possibly can.”
The incident occurred on March 12 at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, one of the largest Reform Jewish congregations in North America. Authorities said Ghazali waited in the synagogue parking lot for several hours before crashing his Ford F-150 pickup truck through the building’s closed doors and into a hallway used by an early childhood education center.
A security guard was struck during the crash. Ghazali then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself, according to investigators.
Officials said the truck contained commercial-grade fireworks and containers of gasoline, and the vehicle caught fire during the confrontation. Emergency responders quickly evacuated the building, where around 150 children and staff were present, and no one else was injured.
Personal and ideological factors
Authorities say Ghazali appeared to have been deeply distressed in the days leading up to the attack. Around the time the incident began, his ex-wife called police in Dearborn Heights to report he seemed suicidal after several family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
The strike occurred shortly after the conflict involving Israel, Iran, and the United States escalated on February 28.
Israeli officials later said Ghazali’s brother, Ibrahim Ghazali, who died in the airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate committee that Ayman Ghazali had family ties “to a Hezbollah leader.”
Background on Hezbollah
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 during Lebanon’s civil war and originally focused on resisting Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon. Although Israel withdrew in 2000, the group has continued its armed confrontation with Israel and has called for the country’s destruction.
The United States has long designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, although the group also operates as a political party in Lebanon and holds seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Community impact
Temple Israel, founded in Detroit in 1941 before relocating to West Bloomfield in the 1980s, has more than 12,000 members, making it one of the largest Reform Jewish congregations in North America. Reform Judaism is the largest branch of Judaism in the region and emphasizes progressive values such as social justice and gender equality.
The attack adds to growing concerns among faith communities about violence targeting places of worship around the world, with religious leaders increasingly calling for enhanced security and protection for congregations.
