FBI confirms that Temple Israel attacker was ‘Hezbollah-inspired’ and sought to kill Israelis
“God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can,” Ayman Ghazali said in a video the FBI said he made before the attack
Law enforcement remain on site at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, on March 12, 2026, after an assailant drove a vehicle into the building. Photo by Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
(JTA) — The man who attacked Temple Israel in suburban Detroit last month was inspired by Hezbollah, the FBI confirmed on Monday.
Ayman Ghazali sent a video to his sister in Lebanon shortly before driving a fireworks-laden truck into the West Bloomfield, Michigan, Reform synagogue on March 12, the FBI revealed during a press conference in Detroit.
“This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the state of Michigan in the United States,” he said in the video. “I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.”
Ghazali was the only person to die in the attack, which injured a security guard and severely damaged the Temple Israel building. He died after shooting himself while trapped inside his truck as it burst into flames.
Israel previously said that Ghazali’s brother, who had been killed in Lebanon days before the attack, was a Hezbollah commander.
“Based on the evidence gathered to date, we assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community,” Jennifer Runyan, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Detroit, said at the FBI press conference.
She said Ghazali had begun searching for pro-Hezbollah materials online early this year but began planning the specific attack only days before it took place, buying an automatic rifle as well as explosives before heading from his home in Dearborn Heights to West Bloomfield.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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