The 41-year-old Lebanese national who targeted the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., on March 12 “acted under Hezbollah’s direction and control,” according to the Department of Justice.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into Michigan’s largest synagogue and opened fire on March 12. A security guard was injured by Ghazali’s car inside the synagogue, but otherwise, no one was hurt.
“This man acted under Hezbollah’s direction and control,” said Jerome Gorgon, Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. “I’ve seen some odd attempts to explain away or even lessen this terrorist attack by claiming that he was an isolated lone wolf, but that is misleading,” said Gorgon.
There has also been an effort to explain away Ghazali’s violent attack by claiming that he lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon. What these apologists for Hezbollah terror fail to note is that Ghazali’s brother was a Hezbollah commander and a proper military target.
Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali was reportedly a commander in Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, involved in launching rockets at Israel. The Badr Force is an elite Hezbollah unit specializing in urban warfare and asymmetric operations. He was a danger to Israel and the Lebanese people.
Gorgon added, “Terrorist propaganda is designed to activate the so-called lone wolf to act on behalf of the terrorist organization, and it makes no legal difference if the current leader of Hezbollah himself, Naim Qassem, called this man and told him to attack Temple Israel, or whether he simply heeded Hezbollah’s call to kill Jews, and in his words, ‘burn there world.’”
The FBI said that Ghazali drove his through the doors of Temple Israel “at a high rate of speed” and continued 200 feet down the hallway before he appeared to set off fireworks that were inside his vehicle. A photo shared by the FBI at the press conference show the attacker’s vehicle come to stop just a few feet from a baby stroller. Temple Israel houses a daycare and dozens of small children were present when Ghazali carried out his attack.
“This evidence shows that the attacker meant to cause a significant amount of harm to the members and the children of Temple Israel,” FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said.
One of the security guards was injured after he was struck by Ghazli’s vehicle, but no one else was harmed in the attack.
We know that Ayman Muhammad Ghazali was born in Lebanon and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, but the date of arrival has not been reported. The FBI may be withholding that information while it tries to determine whether he came to the U.S. with others. They want to be certain that the “lone wolf” Ghazali wasn’t a part of a Hezbollah terror cell, of which it is believed there are several in this hemisphere and, potentially, in the United States as well.
Hezbollah exploits criminal networks for trafficking and has been linked to drug trafficking networks in Mexico, utilizing them to move money and potentially people, according to the Rand Corporation.
Ghazali was radicalized even before his family members were killed in an Israeli strike.
The FBI said on Monday that even before some of Ghazali’s family members were killed in Lebanon, he was consuming Hezbollah propaganda. The attacker had searched pro-Hezbollah content online since January of this year, including following breaking news and statements from Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem. Ghazali also recently watched an Iranian fatwa for “total jihad against the U.S. military,” according to Runyan.
On March 9, three days before he attacked Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, Ghazali began viewing websites of synagogues in his area. Ghazali worked and lived in Dearborn, a majority-Muslim city in Michigan. Later on March 9, the terrorist attempted to purchase weapons from two different people, but they eventually turned him down. Ghazali then went to a gun store in Dearborn Heights, where he purchased an AR-style rifle, 10 magazines, and around 300 rounds of ammunition.
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