Michigan synagogue attack highlights rise in antisemitic violence

Amna Nawaz:

Law enforcement authorities in suburban Detroit say they're still searching for a motive behind yesterday's attack on a synagogue in school. FBI officials said tonight the suspect had large quantities of commercial-grade fireworks and several jugs of flammable liquid believed to be gasoline in the truck he drove into the building.

They also said he had no prior criminal history and that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The FBI called it -- quote -- "a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community."

And it's touched off a wider conversation around antisemitism in the U.S. A day after a man rammed his vehicle into a Michigan synagogue, the state's governor was clear.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI):

Yesterday's attack was antisemitism. It was hate, plain and simple.

Amna Nawaz:

Governor Gretchen Whitmer with a message of support to the Jewish community in her state and nationwide.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer:

We must lower the rhetoric in this state and in this country, especially at this moment where we have seen such a rise in antisemitism and more attacks on the Jewish community.

Amna Nawaz:

Officials have not yet identified a motive, but new details have emerged about the attacker; 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was born in Lebanon. He came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He became a U.S. citizen himself in 2016.

The Associated Press reports that an Israeli airstrike in Eastern Lebanon last week killed his two brothers, his niece and his nephew. Yesterday, armed with a rifle and explosives in the trunk, he drove his truck into the Temple Israel synagogue and preschool. None of the staff, teachers or over 100 children inside were injured.

One security officer was knocked unconscious by the car. Dozens more were treated for smoke inhalation.

Allison Jacobs sends her 18-month-old daughter to the temple's day care.

Allison Jacobs, Mother:

There are no words. I was in complete another shock.

Amna Nawaz:

Cassi Cohen was inside during the attack.

Cassi Cohen, Director of Strategic Development, Temple Israel: I heard a loud crash, and I saw some debris from the car and knew that something was very wrong. I heard a bang, which was a shot, hid under my desk and stayed there until we got the all-clear from the SWAT team.

Amna Nawaz:

This comes amid a rise in antisemitism worldwide and a recent string of related attacks. Three synagogues in Canada were sprayed with gunfire in recent weeks. In January, a man set fire to a synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi. And, in December, a gunman targeting Jews killed 15 people in Bondi Beach, Australia.

Since the 2018 attack on Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, more Jewish communities have been stepping up security. Temple Israel had just held an active shooter prevention training in January.

Rabbi Joshua Bennett, Temple Israel:

We are just absolutely amazed at the heroism of our security team. We expect these things to happen. We just never want them to be real.

Amna Nawaz:

Today, the investigation continues. Tonight, congregants attending Shabbat services will file by a phalanx of officers standing sentry outside their temple.

For some further perspective now, we turn to Rabbi Steven Abraham, who leads Beth El Synagogue. That's a congregation in Omaha, Nebraska.

Rabbi, welcome to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us.

Rabbi Steven Abraham, Beth El Synagogue:

Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

Just give us a sense of what you've been hearing from people in your community, your congregants in these last 48 hours about what they're feeling, what they're worrying about right now.

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

I think at the moment, really, there's a -- It's both a mixed sense of relief and gratitude, the fact that there was, of course, the security guard in Michigan who was injured, but that everybody in the synagogue and the school was safe, and that was kind of where things ended.

But clearly there is a heightened sense of fear and being scared of what is going on in our country, both abroad and locally here at home. And so you have to think twice about certain actions you take, and being in your house of worship is a place that you're supposed to be able to be welcomed and not have fears of what took place yesterday afternoon.

Amna Nawaz:

I mean, tell us about that difficult balance, because I should quote you. Recently, you said, talking about this: "There's a level of PTSD with the heightened awareness. We are synagogues. We're houses of worship. We are not Fort Knox."

So how do you keep that sense that your congregation is safe, they know they can come and pray safely, but not lose the sense that it's an open house of worship?

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

Yes, it's a great question.

I think that the truth of the matter becomes is that synagogues, like churches and mosques, are there, houses of worship, right? They are supposed to be places of welcoming, right? That is what we -- that's who we are. That's what we stand for. And that's -- that is us acting at our very best.

So the idea of being able to have security guards, to metal detectors, to security bollards outside, to all of these extra precautions, which of course are so necessary in the world that we live in, unfortunately, kind of go against the idea of being so welcoming.

And so whether it is to your opening talking about Australia, to the Tree of Life synagogue, to Poway, to Colleyville, to what happened yesterday in the Detroit suburbs, there really is this balance of how do you figure out how to be a house of worship, where your doors are supposed to be open, and yet everything that's happening in the world is in some ways trying to make us close our doors and maybe even be closed-minded?

And I think that we have to fight back against that. These type of actions are to make us think twice, to make me think about the kippah, or the head covering that I wear on my head, when I go outside and whether that is acceptable to wear, to make yourself known to be Jewish. And I say this for other faith groups as well.

And the reality is, you have to be proud. You can't hide. That gives the person who is a terrorist the win in their ability to make us scared. And that's not the way that we should live our lives as Jews or as any other religious tradition.

Amna Nawaz:

Have you at Beth El had to step up your security in recent years?

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

Certainly.

I mean, even pre-October 7, we had done different -- we had done a number of different things in regards to our security here and in the Omaha Jewish community. And then, after October 7, clearly, there was a number of things that we did to make sure that we were both safe, that our congregation was safe, that our staff on a daily basis was being able to be safe.

When you're in a house of worship and you're here to pray and to celebrate, or even to mourn, but the last thing you want is to be thinking about your own personal security in those places.

Amna Nawaz:

You mentioned the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and this sense that what happens overseas inevitably has ripple effects across the rest of the globe.

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

And I should say that there's nothing that excuses the targeting of civilians or people in any house of worship or certainly not children, but I have heard that there has been a sense of heightened concern, heightened fear after the U.S. and Israel launched this most recent war in Iran.

Did the launching of that war make you worry more about attacks here?

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

For sure.

I think that anybody who would answer that question and say that it didn't make you think twice is simply either naive or they're lying to sound -- for a better sound bite. But the reality is, of course. Things that happen overseas, we have seen affect what happens in this country.

I believe quite firmly that the Jewish community in many ways has always been the canary in the coal mine to be able to understand the sense of what is going on with any number of minority groups, both in the United States and abroad. And so, when this war kicked off two weeks ago at this point, certainly, there was a concern of what that would mean for us locally and nationally.

But the idea is that, as you stated so beautifully, nothing kind of justifies attacking a house of worship, a synagogue, a preschool. And so I think we have to live in the reality of the world that we live in, but people come to the synagogue, as I hope they go to churches and mosques, to pray aspirationally for what the world may look like one day, God willing.

So we have to be realists. It's still shocking every time it happens, but we're becoming a little bit numb. I think you mentioned the word PTSD. I think there is a level that the Jewish community, every time these things happen, it opens the wound and you don't actually get to mourn the previous time this happened, right?

Like, as a rabbi, I have now -- I should be proficient at writing sermons, and I'm getting proficient at writing letters to my congregation trying to explain the unexplainable.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Rabbi Steven Abraham from the Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska.

Rabbi, thank you so much for your time.

Rabbi Steven Abraham:

My pleasure. Thank you again.