{"id":204023,"date":"2026-03-14T05:41:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T05:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-jewish-communities-warn-increased-security-is-needed-after-michigan-attack-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T05:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T05:41:01","slug":"us-jewish-communities-warn-increased-security-is-needed-after-michigan-attack-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-jewish-communities-warn-increased-security-is-needed-after-michigan-attack-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"US Jewish communities warn increased security is needed after Michigan attack – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gretchen Whitmer says \u2018community is on edge\u2019 with fear of increased violence amid escalating US-Israeli war on Iran
Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox<\/a>
Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan<\/a>\u2019s governor, said Jewish Americans were \u201ca community on edge\u201d on Friday after security staff thwarted an attack<\/a> on a Detroit-area synagogue and preschool by a man driving a truck containing explosives.
Whitmer, a Democrat, called Thursday\u2019s assault<\/a> at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield township the latest episode in the \u201cancient and rampant evil\u201d of antisemitism, and urged politicians and others to lower the political temperature.
\u201cYesterday\u2019s attack was antisemitism. It was hate, plain and simple,\u201d she said at a Friday morning press conference.
\u201cWe must lower the rhetoric in the state and in this country, especially at this moment where we\u2019ve seen such a rise in antisemitism and more attacks on the Jewish community. We must keep each other close. This community is on the edge.\u201d
Her comments came as Jewish<\/a> communities across the US warned that increased security is needed at places of worship and gathering to help prevent future acts of violence.
Security staff at Temple Israel reacted quickly to the incident in which the vehicle was rammed into the temple building before bursting into flames and the assailant killed during an exchange of gunfire.
The suspect, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, was a naturalized citizen who was born in Lebanon and, it emerged on Friday morning, had lost four family members<\/a> in an Israeli airstrike the country last week, as the US-Israeli war<\/a> on Iran widens<\/a> and intensifies. One security guard at the large synagogue complex received minor injuries and staff, teachers and 140 small children at the temple\u2019s early learning center evacuated to safety.
\u201cOur heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe,\u201d Temple Israel said in a community statement<\/a> following what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called \u201ca targeted act of violence against the Jewish community\u201d.
Elissa Slotkin, a US senator for Michigan<\/a> and also a Democrat, told the Friday press conference that the attack \u201ccould have been much, much worse\u201d, and praised the temple\u2019s private security staff, as well as local law enforcement and first responders.
\u201cIf they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone,\u201d she said.
Taylor Weintraub, a parent of a five-year-old in the temple\u2019s pre-K class, praised staff for keeping her son and his classmates away from harm.
\u201cHe thankfully is blissfully unaware,\u201d she told the Detroit News<\/a>. \u201cHis teachers made it as calm, as much as they could, for them. Told them it was a fire drill and kept them on course and on track and got them out safely. That is something we will forever be grateful for.\u201d
It was revealed on Thursday that the FBI<\/a> had conducted active shooter training<\/a> with Temple Israel staff at the synagogue in recent months. \u201cThanks to preparation and the courage of those on the ground, lives were saved,\u201d Kash Patel, the FBI director, told Fox News Digital.
But the episode has stoked fears of increased violence against Jewish targets in a backlash to the escalating US-Israeli war against Iran<\/a>. Several leading Jewish American organizations are demanding more funding and resources to further harden security at vulnerable locations.
Security at many synagogues and Jewish centers across the US has been beefed up in recent years with organizations hiring private, armed security guards and training them to deal with the risk of attacks. This was stepped up particularly following the mass shooting at<\/a> the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 that killed 11, the deadliest attack on Jews in US history, and the overwhelming military response by Israel in Gaza<\/a> after the attack led by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023<\/a>.
\u201cThis incident is a stark and frightening reminder that Jewish institutions across the US continue to face serious and persistent threats, and the escalating hateful rhetoric in the public discourse puts a target on the backs of all Jews,\u201d the Orthodox Union said in a statement, adding: \u201cEnough is enough. The time has come for our elected officials and people of good conscience to stand up and demand action, including sufficient funding for security at Jewish institutions.\u201d
Ted Deutch, a former US representative and chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, pointed to his group\u2019s recently released report about the escalating level of antisemitism in the US, which showed that 91% of American Jews felt less safe because of previous violent attacks.
\u201cOnce again, this time in Detroit, Jews were targeted at their place of worship. Once again, Jews faced mortal danger simply because of who they are,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a> on X.
He added: \u201cToday in America, when Jews gather, whether at a synagogue or a community event, it\u2019s increasingly behind metal detectors and under the watch of armed security.\u2028We\u2019re not asking for special treatment. We\u2019re not asking for more outrage. We\u2019re asking for something simple: that people everywhere stand up, clearly and unequivocally, and say that this violent hatred will no longer be tolerated.\u201d
The Jewish Federations of North America reported last summer<\/a> that security for the Jewish community cost $765m annually. The amount was \u201cprohibitive\u201d, the organization\u2019s chief executive, Eric Fingerhut, told a House of Representatives subcommittee as he requested congressional help.
The addition of police, security guards and fortification of buildings all made Jewish people feel safer, he said.
Other groups said more action was needed following the West Bloomfield attack, and recent violent incidents including an alleged antisemitic assault<\/a> this week on two California shoppers who were talking Hebrew to each other.
The Israeli-American Council said in a statement it was horrified by events in Michigan and elsewhere.
\u201cThis outrage is the latest in a series of violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions throughout the world, a number of which have resulted in the murder of innocents,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

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Gretchen Whitmer says \u2018community is on edge\u2019 with fear of increased violence amid escalating US-Israeli war on IranSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxGretchen Whitmer, Michigan\u2019s governor, said Jewish Americans were \u201ca community on edge\u201d on Friday after security staff thwarted an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}