On March 12, 2026, a Lebanese born, naturalized citizen, 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali performed a combined vehicle, rifle and explosive/incendiary attack on Temple Israel. The Temple has a large congregation. It is located at 5725 Walnut Lake Road in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, about 25 miles northwest of Detroit. The 100,000 square foot facility is described by members as making up 1% of Reform Jews in America. The temple serves over 3,000 families.
Because of increasing attacks on Jews in the United States, Temple security had been beefed up. A former police officer and long time firearms instructor had been hired to be head of security. The security team had been trained in January in active shooter prevention and preparedness. From AP, via Washingtontimes.com:
And in January, Temple Israel’s staff and clergy participated in an active shooter prevention and preparedness training led by an FBI official, according to the synagogue’s social media accounts.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said on Thursday that he had contacted the head of security for the temple just two days before the attack. He credited the thorough preparation ahead of the attack as the reason that there weren’t casualties.
AP reports there were 140 pre-school students inside the facililty at the time of the attack. The FBI has released a timeline of the attack at a press conference. From the press conference on wilx.com:
9:58 a.m. Ghazali drove a gray Ford F-150 into the Temple Israel parking lot
10 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Ghazali remains parked and Ghaxali was not seen interacting with people or other vehicles.
12:15 p.m. Ghazali started driving through the parking lot.
12:19 p.m. Ghazali drives the truck into the door 5 in the southeast corner of the building, hitting a security guard on the way in.
12:19 p.m. 911 call received by police.
12:20 p.m. The vehicle became jammed between hallway walls; Ghazali fires a gun through the windshield.
Shortly after 12:20 A security officer engaged Ghazali in a gunfight through the rear window of the vehicle. Ghazali could not extract himself because the truck was jammed in the hallway.
12:22 p.m. A second security officer engages Ghazali in a gunfight from the front of the vehicle. Soon after, the vehicle engine compartment catches on fire. At sometime during the gunfight, Ghazali shoots himself in the head.
12:24 p.m. Police responders arrive on the scene.
In the bed of the truck, they found quantities of commercial grade fireworks. Several Jugs of flammable liquid they believe to be gasoline were also in the bed of the truck. Some of them were consumed in the fire.
Security at Temple Israel had been increased in the last few years. A Google map image from 2018 shows there were no anti-vehicle bollards installed at the door 5 entrance in 2018.
Images from the Fox 2 Detroit helicopter video show two anti-vehicle bollards installed in the cement walkway the day of the attack. There is another barrier at the west corner of the cement walk way, and a tree about 15 feet from that barrier. There is enough space on either side of the tree for a vehicle to avoid the barriers and hit the doorway. This appears to be the route the attacker chose.
The other entrances to the building appear to have been better protected.
Analysis: The security team did their job. The attack was over two minutes before the police could arrive at the scene. In active shooter or terrorist incidents, response times in seconds save lives. The Temple Israel attack and response show how important it is to have defenders on the scene rather than having police waiting to respond. Many lives have been saved by an aggressive, violent response to an attack. Many lives have been lost to delay on the part of responders. Training and mindset are extremely important.
Attackers will look for weak points and exploit them. In this case, entrance 5 appears to have been a weak point. An extra two or three anti-vehicle bollards would have made a vehicle attack much more difficult. Vehicle attacks are becoming more common. Many are effective. Church security teams should re-examine their vehicle protection to see if there are weak points.
This attack was almost certainly a part of the worldwide Jihad by Islamic believers. From headlineusa.com:
Ghazali also had brothers in the Iran backed paramilitary group, Hezbollah, according to the Post. Those brothers, Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali, were killed—along with his niece and nephew—by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on March 5, just after sunset as they were having their fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Ibrahim Ghazali’s wife was also seriously wounded and remains in the hospital.
Hezbollah is a proxy for Iran and has been attacking Israel for decades. The Iranian Theocracy sees Israel as the "little Satan" and the United States as the "great Satan". Many adherents to this theology have been allowed into the United States. A significant case can be made that Islam is not compatible with the United States Constitution.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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