The Senate candidate shared that her husband, who is Jewish, was verbally attacked in front of their 5-year-old daughter
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Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow speaks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleAn activist at this month’s Michigan Democratic Party convention in Detroit screamed an antisemitic slur at the husband of Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow, in front of the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, McMorrow revealed in a radio interview airing Wednesday.
McMorrow, a state senator seeking the Democratic nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat, is not Jewish, but her husband is and their daughter attends a Jewish preschool. The incident occurred at a convention where far-left activists also booed one of her primary opponents, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a moderate pro-Israel lawmaker.
The third candidate in the race is physician Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who has a longstanding hostile record towards Israel.
“At the convention a few weeks ago, there was a mood,” McMorrow said in an interview with WHMI, a radio station in metro Detroit. “They booed Haley, but there was a man who walked up to my husband and my daughter — I was not there, just my husband and my daughter, and screamed an antisemitic slur at him in his face, in front of my 5-year-old.”
On the campaign trail, McMorrow has made a point of trying to cater to both the state’s sizable Jewish population and its large Arab population. She described herself in the interview as trying to be “the bridge,” while navigating conflicting views that she hears from voters.
“I got in an Uber the other day and unprompted, the man said to me, ‘Why is it that this country can afford to drop bombs on other countries, but we can’t feed our kids?’ There is a truth in that anger that we as a country have to figure out how we solve that,” McMorrow said.
But she cautioned that politicians and activists who are unhappy with American policy in the Middle East need to ensure their criticism does not veer into antisemitism.
“I will be the first to say, and I’ve taken a lot of heat for it — when it crosses the line into antisemitism, I will be the first to say so,” said McMorrow. “We have to make space for you to be angry and do so in a way that does not make people feel scared, truly scared, to just exist as a Jewish person in this country.”
McMorrow has been endorsed by J Street and pledged not to accept any funding from AIPAC. But she has also taken aim at El-Sayed for his approach to the Middle East. After he announced that he would hold campaign rallies with the far-left, antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker, McMorrow slammed El-Sayed in an interview with Jewish Insider last month.
She reiterated that position to WHMI, although she said she has “no problem” with people who appear on Piker’s show if they want to try to reach his audience and push back on his point of view.
“Bringing somebody in to campaign for you implies that you endorse that person’s point of view, and it tells your audience that this messaging is who I am,” said McMorrow, noting that the timing of Piker’s appearance in Michigan was particularly striking, just weeks after the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
Asked whether she believes Piker to be antisemitic, McMorrow said no — but added that it almost doesn’t matter.
“I don’t think that he is. I think he gets dangerously close,” she said. “I think there is justifiable anger at the ongoing war. I think a lot of what he says is uninformed and hurtful. I can’t purport to speak for what he believes in his heart, but I can tell you, for my family, a lot of what he says is really hurtful.”
Jewish Democrats described a ‘shell-shocked’ atmosphere at their statewide convention that saw marked hostility to pro-Israel voices
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U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens speaks at the Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention in Detroit, Mich., on April 19, 2026.
When thousands of Michigan’s most ardent Democratic activists gathered in Detroit on Sunday for the party’s nominating convention, Decky Alexander was thrilled: 200 people were in the room for a Jewish Democratic Caucus meeting, more than double the 70 people who showed up last year in its first official gathering.
Candidates for statewide office, from the U.S. Senate to attorney general, came by to pitch voters as activists schmoozed over bagels.
“It was incredibly energizing and affirming. That’s how the day began,” Alexander, who chairs the caucus, told Jewish Insider in an interview on Tuesday. “It didn’t end that way.”
As the day went on, Jewish Democrats were alarmed to see pro-Israel voices within the party marginalized and shouted down.
“Our Jewish caucus brought a lot of people to the convention, and I was with many of those people who were first-time conventiongoers. They were — I would use the term shell-shocked,” said Joan Lowenstein, a lawyer and former Ann Arbor city councilmember.
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a moderate and pro-Israel candidate for Senate, faced loud, sustained boos when she spoke in front of the main convention room. One person spotted an attendee on Sunday wearing a shirt that said “Resistance until liberation,” with an image showing someone wearing a keffiyeh throwing rocks.
The main reason that activists gathered that day was to vote to nominate candidates for a range of positions, including attorney general and secretary of state, distinct from other states where voters directly elect their party’s primary nominees.
The outcome of one relatively low-level race generated the most headlines: delegates’ decision to nominate Amir Makled, a Dearborn attorney with a history of social media posts praising Hezbollah, for a position on the University of Michigan Board of Regents. He unseated incumbent Jordan Acker, who is Jewish and was in part targeted due to his calls to discipline anti-Israel student protesters during the 2024 encampment at the Ann Arbor campus.
Acker told The Detroit News afterward that the level of antisemitism among Michigan Democrats is “extensive.”
“The question we have to ask as Jews is whether we still belong here,” said Acker, a Democrat.
The Democratic Party congratulated Makled in social media posts. What remains unclear is just how far party leaders will go to support Makled as he proceeds to the general election. Curtis Hertel, the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, did not respond to a request for comment.
But Makled’s nomination is cause for concern among many Jewish Democrats.
“I certainly cannot vote for somebody who praises Hezbollah and uplifts posts that use ‘Jew’ as a slur. This was an unacceptable nomination, and I simply cannot affiliate with somebody who harbors those views,” Jeremy Moss, a state senator who is running for Congress in the Detroit suburbs, told JI on Tuesday.
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), a moderate Democrat representing a swing district, who is not Jewish, on Tuesday described the scenes from the convention as “deeply troubling,” and in particular criticized the party’s nomination of Makled.
For Jewish Democrats who are not willing to disavow Israel, the question of what to do in a race like the Board of Regents is uncertain. Lowenstein, the Ann Arbor activist, said she would “never” support Makled, but that she also would not vote for a Republican.
“I think Jewish voters are now in a position where we have to look at each person, and not look at their party, but look at what they stand for,” she said.
“I need to create the table, not just always be invited to the table. I just don’t know what that looks like,” said Decky Alexander, the Jewish caucus chair. “It’s a heartbreak. I felt, in moments, is this going to be a breakup? I don’t think so, but we’ve been feeling this way, a lot of us, for a long time.”
The Jewish voters who attended the convention on Sunday are among the most committed Democrats in the state, which makes it more notable that some were left questioning their place in the party.
“They think that there’s shrinking room for them in spaces that claim to be inclusive,” said Elyssa Schmier, the Anti-Defamation League’s Michigan director. “That’s kind of the saying of the Democratic Party: ‘We have a big tent, big-tent politics.’ It did not feel that way at the convention.”
Even the activists most disillusioned by Sunday’s events acknowledge that the convention attendees are not necessarily representative of the state’s Democratic electorate. All it took to attend the convention was registering as a party member a month beforehand and paying a nominal fee.
“I don’t know that it was an accurate representation of where the broader Democratic electorate would be, say, in a primary,” said Moss. “But there’s no question, there was incivility at best [and] displays of Jewish antagonism at worst in the convention hall.”
Jewish activists hope this moment of upheaval can be a chance for Jewish Democrats to reassert their place in the party, even if things feel tenuous and difficult at present.
“I need to create the table, not just always be invited to the table. I just don’t know what that looks like,” said Alexander, the Jewish caucus chair. “It’s a heartbreak. I felt, in moments, is this going to be a breakup? I don’t think so, but we’ve been feeling this way, a lot of us, for a long time.”
Between now and the general election, Alexander wants to talk to as many candidates as possible about whether they plan to take the concerns of Jewish voters seriously.
“I haven’t changed. I am not a Republican or a conservative. I cannot win my district as an independent. But I also wonder how I can continue to carry this party banner with anything approaching pride, or rather, without anxiety and ambivalence,” state Rep. Noah Arbit, a Democrat who represents West Bloomfield, told JI.
“This isn’t identity politics. This is figuring out, in a pluralistic nation like the United States, does everyone have a place? And we want the people who are running for office to answer: Do the Jews have a place in your vision and your platform?” she said.
Moss said he intends to use his platform as a state lawmaker and congressional candidate to answer that question clearly: Jews do have a place in the Democratic Party.
“My solution is to offer my candidacy for everybody and to ensure that folks know that there is a lane for Jewish Democrats in this moment, that we don’t have to feel hopeless, we don’t have to feel politically homeless, that this is a lane that we have to solidify here,” said Moss. “My core values as a Democrat are really Jewish values.”
For state Rep. Noah Arbit, a Democrat who represents West Bloomfield, the site of an antisemitic attack last month, Sunday’s convention adds to angst he has been feeling about his party for years. He was the one who founded the Jewish caucus in 2019, in response to rising antisemitism on the political left.
“I haven’t changed. I am not a Republican or a conservative. I cannot win my district as an independent. But I also wonder how I can continue to carry this party banner with anything approaching pride, or rather, without anxiety and ambivalence,” he told JI. Yet he said he will not cave to pressure from the party’s far-left flank.
“I certainly won’t be run out of representing my community by a band of extremists,” said Arbit. “So I need to stay.”
The foiled attack at the Michigan synagogue is being called a miracle — but those who were inside now face the lasting impact of trauma and a search for safety
JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP via Getty Images
Law enforcement vehicles are seen parked outside Temple Israel guarding the scene in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 13, 2026.
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. — Pop. Pop. Pop. Liz Rosenbaum heard the unmistakable sounds of a gun being fired and took a deep breath as the 4-year-old boy next to her looked her way, wide-eyed. Even in the best of times, he was an anxious kid. This was not one of those times. “Was that a gun?” he asked.
Without missing a beat, Rosenbaum reminded the boy that the classroom across the hall in the Temple Israel Early Childhood Center had a bunch of balloons set up earlier for someone’s birthday. They must’ve popped, she suggested. “Remember? You saw the balloons in their class,” she told the child.
Rosenbaum, a retired Detroit public school teacher, locked eyes with the much younger teacher across the room and whisper-yelled to her: Don’t show any emotion. Just take care of the kids. So they held the babies — to a preschool teacher, any child is a baby — and waited, not knowing anything beyond the fact that someone was shooting a gun and the smell of smoke was getting worse. Rosenbaum’s 5-year-old grandson, Theo, was in a nearby classroom, but she had already gotten word from her daughter, via Theo’s teacher, that he was OK.
Seconds or minutes or hours later — it was hard to know — police officers came to the door. Rosenbaum’s co-teacher was perched at the door’s little window, peeking through a one-way blackout shade that allowed teachers to look out but kept outsiders from seeing in.
The officers said the code word that the teachers had been trained to know would reveal the person on the other side of the door was, in fact, one of the good guys. The teachers opened the door and grabbed the kids, carrying or pulling or holding or dragging, whatever it took to obey the officers’ command to “get out of here, fast.”
“[The kids] knew something was going on. I said, ‘Remember these officers you studied? You read about them. We talked about them. Those are our helpers,’” Rosenbaum recalled telling the kids. Two days earlier, police and firefighters had visited the preschool, located in the largest Reform congregation in Michigan, as part of a lesson.
A cadre of preschool teachers carried babies and led toddlers out the back door of the synagogue, first to an ambulance that was too crowded, and ultimately onto a West Bloomfield School District bus that took them across the street to a country club for the Chaldeans, an Iraqi Christian community. Some teachers had to run with their kids to get there. You’re a dinosaur — run as fast as you can! they said, hoping to hurry the kids along without scaring them.
Rosenbaum and the entire world would soon learn that a Lebanese immigrant — later revealed to have ties to the terror group Hezbollah — had driven a truck packed with explosives into Temple Israel around noon that day. Cable news networks showed aerial shots of smoke billowing from the roof of the synagogue and reported in alarming chyrons that an active shooter was inside. The attacker got out of his car and started shooting before he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Every child in Rosenbaum’s classroom walked out of Temple Israel alive. In fact, every person who was already in the building survived; the only person who was injured was a security guard, hailed as a hero and already on the mend. (He was apparently quite pleased that, in his moment of need, he convinced a Temple Israel rabbi to buy him a sandwich with bacon to bring to his hospital room.)
The story of Temple Israel is one of miracles. The building’s sprinkler system turned on, soaking everything in the building except for the Torah scrolls. Miracle. The hallway where the attacker rammed his car was set aflame, burning most of the photos that lined the wall showing the synagogue’s annual confirmation classes but sparing the oldest photos, from decades ago, which were not digitized and otherwise would’ve been lost forever. Miracle. Teachers trained in active-shooter protocols acted quickly and meticulously to secure their classrooms, and security guards performed their jobs perfectly. Miracle. No children were in the hallway in the path of the truck. Miracle upon miracle upon miracle.
“Nes gadol hayah poh,” Noah Arbit, a lifelong member of Temple Israel and a Michigan state representative whose district includes the synagogue, said last week in an interview with Jewish Insider at a bakery a couple of towns over. A great miracle happened here. It was a riff on a Hebrew phrase used on Hanukkah, the holiday that celebrates the Jews’ miraculous victory over the ancient Greeks during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Usually, Jews living in the diaspora say a different version of the phrase that translates to “a great miracle happened there.” This time, the miracle was here in Michigan.
”I think if it happened anywhere else but Temple Israel, we probably could have had a massacre. Temple Israel benefits from scale and resources in a way that other synagogues around here don’t,” said Arbit, a Democrat.
But it is not accurate to say that this is only a story of miracles. For people who don’t live in West Bloomfield, once the headlines shifted from “active shooter at a synagogue” to “antisemitic attack thwarted,” many moved on. Jews in Metro Detroit did not. For them, this story of miracles was first a story of terror, of fear, of never being able to un-learn the feeling of dread that comes from not knowing whether your child is alive or dead.
“People are traumatized, and there’s no way around it,” Rabbi Josh Bennett, who has been on the pulpit at Temple Israel for 33 years, told JI last week. “And yet there’s an entirely different world out there, which is the world talking about miracles, and thank God nobody was injured. And that’s actually very dissonant, because the rest of the world has kind of moved on, and they’re just waiting for us to reopen the building.”
The path toward healing is not as straightforward as just reopening the building, and even that will be complicated and time-intensive.
“The building will be rebuilt. If you drive by there now, you’ll see there’s construction workers working on it right now, and they’re drying it out, and they’re redoing the drywall and fixing it. It will come back bigger and better,” said Steve Ingber, a Temple Israel member and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
There’s also the question of where to have Temple Israel’s preschool meet for the rest of the school year. The ECC students have been holding playdates together as the school remains closed and Temple Israel looks to find an alternate place for the school to meet.
But first and foremost is the lingering emotional trauma that is only beginning to be unpacked.
“We don’t want to leave anyone behind. We don’t want anyone to feel like they are isolated and living in a black hole, and after this traumatic moment and after a mass violence experience, that is often the case, is what I’m learning from these professionals,” said Rabbi Arianna Gordon, Temple Israel’s director of education and lifelong learning. “It’s really easy to fall into that black hole and really feel like you’re invisible, feel like you’re isolated. And we are really, really trying to make sure that everyone feels seen and feels helped and feels heard.”
On March 12, the day of the attack, Gordon heard a loud boom that she later learned came from the truck driving into the building. She opened her office door and saw a stroller overturned in a pile of broken glass. A security guard shouted to get back in the room, and she took her staff to shelter in place in a far corner of a new office they had moved into only two days earlier. She sent a message to all the teachers, telling them to implement lockdown procedures.
Her 2-year-old son was in the building. When Gordon and her colleagues were evacuated, she waited outside the building until her son came out.
“Rachel, our ECC director who ran out with me, will say that my voice screaming for my child, when we were running out, will forever haunt her,” said Gordon. She doesn’t remember making a sound.
Most of all, as social workers and rabbis work to meet community members’ emotional needs, the biggest unanswered question has to do with security: Is there enough? Even if so — and by all accounts, Temple Israel’s large security operation saved lives — how do community members make sense of the fact that their sense of safety has now been shattered? That a man from a nearby community pledged his allegiance to a foreign terrorist group and sought to bring tremendous harm to Jewish children?
“It hurts more than I ever thought that it would. I think there’s a lot of people who feel that way. It’s a beautiful building and a sacred space,” said Arbit, the state representative. He blinked back tears. “Sorry. It’s been really hard.”
The day of the attack, Ingber was getting ready to leave the federation office in nearby Bloomfield Hills for lunch when he heard the security radio crackle to life. The Jewish Federation of Detroit employs 23 security officers throughout the community’s schools and synagogues, and each of them carries a radio. The one in Ingber’s office goes off each morning around 8 a.m., a tech check to make sure it works. It sits quiet the rest of the time. Except on March 12. “SHOTS FIRED,” a voice announced over the radio.
“First, it took me a second, like, Wait, did I just hear that?” Ingber recalled during an interview in his office last week. “From there, we heard that this was real, and then we immediately started working on it, and that entailed sending every other Jewish building in town into lockdown, because we don’t know: Is this a one-off, or is this a coordinated attack?”
Security is the biggest annual line item expense for the Jewish federation, as it is for many Jewish institutions. The federation has made more than $1 million in security funds available to local organizations since the attack. Jewish activists from Detroit and around the country went to Capitol Hill the week after the attack to lobby Congress to increase the amount of money in the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
But for the 75,000 or so Jews in the Detroit metropolitan area, the need still feels almost impossible to meet.
“I still feel, despite everything, that Temple Israel is incredibly safe, because what happened was our team protected us. They protected the staff and the children,” said Elyssa Schmier, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Michigan office and a Temple Israel member. Her 5-year-old son goes to another Jewish preschool in the area that is smaller, with less of a security presence.
”My son’s preschool was — the security was fine. I wouldn’t say it was great, and we’ve kind of known all along it wasn’t super great. So now they’ve had to put in full-day armed security and go with a new company. People weren’t sending their kids to school until that went into place. We’ve had a couple families pull out altogether,” Schmier said in a conversation last week in a coffee shop near West Bloomfield. “The additional cost is astronomical now of what the school’s going to have to take on.”
All of the added security means even more closed doors at a time when the Jewish community longs more than ever for allies.
“Things that are part of the strength of the Michigan Jewish community are now being looked at with an eye of concern, and the irony of that, for a community that so values community building and institutions is, I think, not lost on anybody,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) told JI last week.
Jeremy Moss, a Democratic state senator who attends a Conservative synagogue in the area, said over a meal of rye bread, pickles and chicken soup at a West Bloomfield deli last week that the Temple Israel attack warrants a much larger outcry from outside the Jewish community than it is getting. Moss, who is running for Congress this year, is the only Jewish member of the Michigan state Senate. He is also the only LGBTQ member of the Senate. He knows that those two parts of his identity are often treated differently.
“When I talk about LGBTQ rights, I have my Democratic colleagues rushing to be behind me, to stand in solidarity, to allow me to lead on the discussion, to allow me talk about what is homophobic and transphobic, to back me up,” he said.
“In the past several years, when I talk about antisemitism, it feels like I’m talking alone, or that I’m challenged, or that I’m lectured, not necessarily by my colleagues, but lectured about what is antisemitism from others, rather than allowing my own experience to be accredited, to be valid,” he added. “It’s a very isolating, lonely feeling, and it really makes you realize how small the Jewish community is and how difficult it is to get our lived experience heard and supported.”
The attack on Temple Israel, and the fact that no one died, offers a “second chance,” Moss said. Not just for the parents and children, he said, but “for all of us.”
“Whether you’re on the left, this is a second chance to speak out if you haven’t spoken out before. Whether you’re on the right, this was a second chance for them,” Moss said, taking aim at his Republican colleagues who did not support a major hate crimes package passed last year. “I think there’s a lot of second chances going on as a result of this incident, where every child went home healthy to their parents that day. The question is, what are we going to do with that?”
For a lot of people at Temple Israel, it’s too early to think about what all of this means. The pain is too raw. Because here’s what they know: A man was able to park in the Temple Israel parking lot, sit there for two hours listening to Arabic battle anthems while texting his sister and other family members about his plans and drive his truck head-on into the building, while teachers shushed children and sang them songs just feet away.
What could be normal after that?
“It needs to be driven home over and over again: A person who drives their vehicle with fireworks and gasoline into an early childhood center with the intent of killing children and Jews — that is antisemitism,” said Bennett, the senior rabbi. “It is impossible to be in an event like this without being forever changed. It is an indelible mark on the soul of our congregation.”
In a strange irony, many of the kids who were at Temple Israel during the attack are unfazed. Some were too young to notice anything out of the ordinary. The slightly older kids experienced the chaos, but they mostly felt lucky to get an unexpected field trip that came with chicken tenders, pizza and games. Parents whose younger children were at the ECC are struggling to describe what happened to their older kids.
“When they ask, like, why do people hate Jews, it is really hard to be a parent and to be an educator in this moment and figure out the right things to say to our children,” said Gordon, the education director. Her 2-year-old is, of course, not asking those questions; he was mostly asleep throughout the attack, which occurred during nap time. But her 7- and 9-year-old kids are.
“I say that I don’t have a good explanation. I can’t tell you why people hate Jews. But what I can tell you is that there also are people who are really incredibly helpful and wonderful and supportive of our Jewish community, and we want to focus on that,” said Gordon.
The day after the attack, Shabbat services were held at Shenandoah County Club, the Chaldean club that had opened its doors a day earlier as a reunification center during the attack. Last Friday, Temple Israel’s members met inside another West Bloomfield synagogue. At least 200 people joined the service, eager to hug each other and sing together and live out the beautiful parts of being Jewish. But they were reminded at every moment that they were living in a world transformed by ugliness.
Police cars parked out front directed traffic, and anyone coming in had to pass seven or eight security guards as they walked through a metal detector. During the service, security guards slowly walked around the room, monitoring the crowd. One guard stood like a sentry at the sanctuary’s big window, eyes fixed on whatever unknown threats might be lurking outside on the frigid early spring evening.
Indoors, Temple Israel’s rabbis and cantor joyfully ushered in Shabbat with a musical service. They told congregants about webinars being offered by mental health professionals. They shared that the synagogue’s staff were being given the entire week of Passover off so they could relax with their families.
The rabbis and ECC staff had been allowed back into the synagogue briefly to be able to take items from their offices before cleanup crews disposed of the rest, most of which was waterlogged or burned. One of them grabbed a box of large, colorful plastic bricks.
As people left the service, they were invited to take one of those bricks home with them to place on their Seder plates. It would be a bitter reminder of what Temple Israel had endured. But more importantly, it would remind people that with the help of its dedicated and loving community, Temple Israel will rebuild.
For Rosenbaum, the Temple Israel preschool teacher, it’s been a challenging few weeks. She woke a few days after the attack from a nightmare. She stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air. She is in therapy. Babysitting the Temple Israel toddlers who are now out of school helps, too. She will be back teaching at Temple Israel as soon as she is allowed.
“My mother taught me, when you fall off a bicycle, you get back on and you learn to ride it. When you get in an auto accident, you get back in the car and you learn to drive it. I taught my kids that. And Temple Israel is very strong. We are going to go back. We’re going to go back as being strong and supporting and loving one another, like we do,” said Rosenbaum.
“In the grand scheme of things, Hashem was with us.”
Officials revealed the assailant had recorded a video stating, ‘This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan … God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can’
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
The FBI determined that the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., earlier this month was “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” officials said on Monday.
Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit, said during a news conference that the assailant, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, made a video stating, “This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan in the United States. 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.”
On March 12, Ghazali rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the country, which has an active early childcare center. Armed security stationed at the synagogue engaged with Ghazali inside the vehicle, who killed himself after his truck caught fire during the gunfight. No one else was killed.
Ghazali, 41, was born in Lebanon and entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Ghazali was the brother of a Hezbollah commander who was killed by the IDF in Lebanon the week before the attack.
In the days following the attack, US officials said Ghazali was flagged by federal government databases as having connections to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the FBI revealed on Monday.
If he survived, he would have been charged with providing material support to Hezbollah, Jerome Gorgon, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said.
“This man acted under Hezbollah’s direction and control,” Gorgon said. “He intended to kill others, not just himself.”
Matthew Kozma, under secretary for intelligence and analysis, spoke at a briefing for the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Members of Hatzalah of Michigan, a Jewish volunteer emergency medical service survey the area near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Extensive security “preparations, training and practice” that had taken place prior to an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue earlier this month “greatly helped to dramatically mitigate what could have been so much worse in Michigan,” a Trump administration intelligence official said on Tuesday.
During a security briefing webinar hosted by the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization, ahead of the Passover holiday, Matthew Kozma, under secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, called for continued vigilance “given the threat that’s stemming from Iran, particularly in the Middle East, but also here at home.”
He said that Americans should remain cautious of threats from “malicious actors, particularly ones encouraged by or empathetic to Iran,” as two upcoming events in the country — the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary — bring an influx of visitors into the U.S.
The briefing was held during what Michael Masters, CEO of SCN, described as “an elevated threat environment from Iran and its proxies,” ahead of the start of the Passover holiday next week.
Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started nearly one month ago, Jewish institutions have seen a surge in attacks, including the one targeting Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. — one of the country’s largest Reform congregations — and three shootings outside of Toronto synagogues.
Masters said SCN monitored over 8,000 direct calls for violence against the Jewish community in North America over a six-day period this month, marking a 137% increase over the average tracked and “the highest number we’ve ever tallied in that timeframe.”
Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who was on the scene following the Temple Israel attack, shared with attendees that he himself has been the target of death threats for supporting the Jewish community.
Still, Bouchard doubled down on his support. “Something that I’ve said before, and I believe, is that if you target our Jewish community, we’re going to stand in front of them to protect them. And we’re coming for you.”
The briefing concluded with Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, calling for “more resources at this time.”
“Temple Israel was one of the best, most secured buildings, having spent a significant amount of money of their dues budget and of their donors’ budgets on security, and yet we need additional levels of security,” Fingerhut said. “Our federations are committed to generating those additional resources, bringing those resources to our communities. But in addition, I have to mention that it’s the government’s responsibility, first and foremost, to protect its citizens in their places of worship, in their places of communal gathering.”
Last week, in a letter to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, a bipartisan group of 150 House members asked the committee to provide $1 billion in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2027, a massive expansion of the program that marks the first time lawmakers’ request aligns with the $1 billion that some Jewish groups have been advocating for. The program received $274.5 million in funding in 2025, but that funding has still not been distributed, according to the letter, which cited delays at FEMA, and lawmakers have not been provided customary data about supplemental funding rounds awarded last year.
“We need more resources and support from the government,” continued Fingerhut, who announced that JFNA will hold an advocacy fly-in in Washington in mid-May.
“We will be visiting every member of Congress, asking them for their support. We’ll be visiting the members of the administration, as well … to make sure that [they] know that every one of us has the right in this country to practice our faith and to gather together as a community in safety and security.”
Plus, Temple Israel seeks to 'tell its story'
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Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office at the White House on February 12, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard distanced herself — to a degree — from two of her isolationist-minded aides, Joe Kent and Dan Caldwell, who have taken a hostile stance to the U.S.’ Middle East policy, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Gabbard affirmed, after being pressed at a House Intelligence Committee hearing today, that the conspiratorial views about Israel espoused by Kent in his resignation letter earlier this week did concern her, and said about Caldwell that he would have no influence over intelligence reports at her agency.
Gabbard, who has previously been a vocal critic of military engagement with Iran, further acknowledged that her current position requires her to “check” her personal views “at the door”…
Reports of a potential $200 billion emergency funding request from the Pentagon for the war in Iran are drawing firm Democratic opposition and hedged responses from Republicans on the Hill: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he’ll “look at” the request “but obviously it’s a dangerous time in the world and we have to adequately fund defense,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he’d “hate to be the senator that denied the request if it made sense.” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) responded with a simple “No,” while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called it a “nonstarter”…
The Senate is set to hold another round of votes on blocking U.S. arms transfers to Israel, after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filed three new joint resolutions of disapproval against $658.8 million in sales of over 20,000 bombs to Israel, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
A majority of the Democratic caucus — 27 lawmakers — voted to block at least one arms sale in July of last year, a significant jump in support from previous similar efforts; Israel’s standing in the party has largely declined since then amid Democratic criticism of the war with Iran…
During a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House today, President Donald Trump reiterated that he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Iranian oil facilities, after an Israeli strike on the South Pars gas field yesterday: “I told them, don’t do that. We didn’t discuss. … It’s coordinated, but on occasion, he’ll do something.”
Trump also put pressure on Takaichi to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, while European leaders released a joint statement “express[ing] our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,” after repeatedly declining to get involved. A team of British military planners is now consulting with CENTCOM on options to assist short of military action, The New York Times reports…
Asked if he will deploy more U.S. troops in the region, Trump told reporters he’s “not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you — but I’m not putting troops”…
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth compared Iran to Hamas in a briefing today, saying that, “just like Hamas and their tunnels,” Iran has “poured any aid, any economic development … into tunnels and rockets”…
A group of congressional Democrats is urging the State Department to restart chartered evacuation flights out of Israel and take additional steps to help U.S. citizens who wish to leave the country amid the ongoing war with Iran, JI’s Marc Rod reports.
The lawmakers described the State Department’s current partnership with El Al, which launched on March 13 with a limited number of special evacuation flights for U.S. citizens, as insufficient. The Israeli airline has currently suspended registration for the flights, and government-imposed security restrictions are limiting passenger capacity on each flight and reducing airport operations…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil already at sea in order to blunt rising gas prices. “In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign,” he explained on Fox News…
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan warned the kingdom is reaching a breaking point after continued Iranian attacks, saying “what little trust” Riyadh had with Tehran has “completely been shattered.”
On a potential Saudi military response, Prince Faisal said, “Do they have a day, two, a week? I’m not going to telegraph that.” It’s a notable shift for Riyadh, which had been pivoting away from its traditional allies and towards Iran and other Islamist countries prior to the war…
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned AIPAC after a primary cycle in which the pro-Israel group spent millions backing — and opposing — candidates across the state, calling it “an organization that was supporting Donald Trump and people who follow Donald Trump.”
Pritzker, a Jewish Democrat who was once an AIPAC donor himself, said it “really is not an organization that I think today I would want any part of.” He further echoed far-left sentiments that Israel dragged the U.S. into conflict with Iran, claiming Trump “simply follow[ed] Netanyahu into that war”…
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) details his experience with a would-be assailant, a man described by authorities as a “ticking time bomb,” who was arrested near his home last year after police discovered an arsenal of weapons and a handwritten list of targets that included Jewish sites and Moskowitz.
“Besides the police presence outside his house, Moskowitz himself will not appear in parades and says he won’t speak at outdoor staged events. ‘It’s not worth it. I’d rather lose my election,’” the lawmaker told Roll Call…
Temple Israel in suburban Detroit released photos of the devastation to the building caused by an attacker last week, noting that it had “chosen thus far not to make [the photos] public” but are doing so now “to take back control of our narrative” after several were leaked to the media.
“We share these images because our community deserves to see our building through eyes of love, not through the lens of spectacle. This is our sacred space, and we will be the ones to tell its story,” the synagogue wrote…
The University of California, Berkeley reached a settlement in its lawsuit with the federal government, agreeing to pay $1 million and make changes to its discrimination policy following accusations that the university had failed to properly address campus antisemitism.
Among the policy changes, the school will clarify that the word “Zionist” cannot be used as a proxy for Jew or Israeli. The claims in the lawsuit predate the recent campus unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza, stemming from an incident in 2022 when student groups adopted policies saying they would not host Zionist speakers…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the struggles facing international broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe in reaching Iranian citizens during the ongoing war due to budget cuts and roadblocks from the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
The House Appropriations Committee will hold a field hearing at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in New York City on “accountability and reform” at the U.N.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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University of Michigan regent race revives campus fight over Israel
Anti-Israel activists are singling out regent Jordan Acker, hoping to unseat him with attorney Amir Makled, who represented a member of the school’s encampment
Plus, JD Vance says he likes Joe Kent
Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, testifies during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2026.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today that the Iranian regime “appears to be intact but largely degraded,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports, as the U.S. and Israel continue to target Iranian leaders and assets. If it survives the war, she said, the regime would “seek to begin a yearslong effort to rebuild its military, missiles and UAV forces.”
Gabbard, a longtime opponent of war with Iran, repeatedly declined to say whether the intelligence community had assessed Iran to be an imminent threat to the United States, after her former deputy, Joe Kent, alleged in his resignation letter yesterday that no such threat existed. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, however, was clear in his view that “Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time, and posed an immediate threat at this time”…
Regarding Kent’s resignation over his opposition to the war in Iran and claims that Israel coerced the U.S. into the war, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Kent “was not someone who was involved in … the president’s intelligence briefings over the last several months. Have not seen him here at the White House for quite some time.”
She said President Donald Trump finds it “disappointing” that Kent would “resign with a letter filled with falsehoods, accusing the president of the United States [of] being controlled by a foreign country. That’s both insulting and laughable.”
Vice President JD Vance told reporters, “I know Joe Kent a little bit. I like Joe Kent … It’s fine to disagree, but once the president makes a decision, it’s up to everybody who serves in his administration to make it as successful as possible. That’s how I do my job”…
In his nomination hearing to be secretary of homeland security, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said he will aim to “streamline the process” for grants, including the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, JI’s Matthew Shea reports, vowing to work to “cut out the redundancies.”
“The amount of paperwork once you’re approved to get the funding flowing, and then the paperwork that’s followed up on is way too encompassing,” Mullin said. “Taking years to get reimbursed is not acceptable. Taking months to get reimbursed is not acceptable.” His hearing was otherwise colored by personal hostility with Homeland Security Committee Chair Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which could complicate Mullin’s path to nomination…
The Israeli Air Force reportedly struck the South Pars gas field in Iran, the largest in the world; Qatar, which owns half of the field, called it a “dangerous and irresponsible step.” The U.S. reportedly had knowledge of the operation, despite the Trump administration asking Israel earlier this month not to strike energy facilities…
Trump issued a veiled threat to American allies who have declined to assist in securing the Strait of Hormuz, musing on Truth Social, “I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Strait?’ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!”…
Michael Blake, the Democrat challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) whose campaign has focused extensively on criticism of Israel and AIPAC, expressed strong support for Kent’s resignation letter and his baseless claim of Israel’s role in initiating the war. “An absolutely breathtaking, courageous and bold resignation letter stating that Iran posed NO IMMINENT THREAT to us and Trump made this decision due to the Israeli government and its American Lobby,” Blake wrote on X…
Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner released an ad in response to one from his opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, highlighting social media comments he had made about sexual assault. “If I saw these ads, I’d have questions,” Platner says in the spot. “Maine, I’m asking you not to judge me for the worst thing I said on the internet on my worst day 14 years ago, but who I am today.”
Mills replied with another ad featuring an interview clip of Platner in which he said about his posts, “I made a lot of comments that I’m not, like, ashamed of. It’s not as though I have this ream of comments in which I look back and I’m like, oh my god, I was a terrible person back then”…
During an economic-focused visit to Detroit today, Vance remarked about the recent shooting attack at nearby Temple Israel, “When something happens to any member of our American family, and this particular incident happened to Jewish members of our American family, it is something that all of us have to stand up and say, it’s disgusting, it’s unacceptable”…
Also in response to the Temple Israel attack, Montgomery County, Md., a heavily Jewish suburb of Washington, announced it will provide $500,000 in supplemental funding for its Nonprofit Security Grant Program for current recipients over the next 90 days. It’s one of the few localities that provides its own funding in addition to the federal program…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the far-left candidates running against establishment Democrats in Colorado.
The Senate will vote on another war powers resolution this evening aiming to stop the U.S. operation in Iran. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), is expected to fail largely along party lines, as the previous one did earlier this month.
Administration intelligence officials including DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe will appear before the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow for its rescheduled worldwide threats hearing.
The Senate’s Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee is set to hold a vote on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-OK) nomination to be secretary of homeland security, though Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) threatened to cancel it over personal animosity and outstanding questions about a 2016 overseas trip that Mullin claims was classified. If a vote is held, Mullin will need the support of at least one Democrat on the committee in order to advance without Paul’s support, which Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has previously pledged to provide.
After his appearance this evening on far-right commentator Tucker Carlson’s podcast, Joe Kent will be interviewed tomorrow by Candace Owens, who similarly deals in antisemitic conspiracy theories, at the Catholic Prayer for America gala in Washington. Also appearing at the gala is Carrie Prejean Boller, the former beauty pageant queen who was removed from the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission after berating Jewish hearing witnesses over antisemitism.
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TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (2L), New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch (2R) and Cardinal Timothy Dolan (R) participate in annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York on March 17, 2026.
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Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned from his role today over opposition to the war in Iran, baselessly alleging that Israel had coerced the United States into what he characterized as a misguided military conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
In a letter to President Donald Trump, Kent, a former Green Beret who had reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, wrote that he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” claiming that the Islamic Republic “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Kent, a hard-right former congressional candidate with isolationist foreign policy leanings, has previously promoted conspiracy theories, echoed pro-Russia messaging and associated with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, among other controversies. He’s now expected to appear on the podcast of his ally and friend Tucker Carlson…
After being largely rejected by foreign leaders on his repeated calls to assist in the war with Iran, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that, “Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! … WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”
Asked about the timeline of the war by reporters in the Oval Office this afternoon, Trump said, “We’re not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the … very near future”…
Reports indicate Iran’s security forces, despite being badly battered by the U.S. and Israel, are conducting renewed crackdowns on the Iranian public and potential dissenters. At least 500 people have been arrested since the start of the war, and new security checkpoints are being deployed for regime oversight…
Major U.S. airlines have extended their suspensions of direct flights to Tel Aviv as the war continues, JI’s Haley Cohen reports, with both United and Delta airlines not offering any direct flights until June.
The first direct flight on United Airlines between Newark Liberty International Airport and Ben Gurion Airport is available on June 16, while the first direct New York to Tel Aviv flight on Delta Airlines is available June 1. United’s direct flights from Israel to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles International Airport are also suspended…
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack denied reports that the U.S. is encouraging Syria to deploy forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, as the IDF begins to carry out ground incursions in the south of the country…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to post “proof of life” videos on social media amid internet conspiracy theories that he has been killed and replaced by a look-alike…
Trump’s decision to withhold his endorsement in the Texas Senate GOP runoff all but guarantees that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will both appear on the May 26 runoff ballot, as neither have dropped out of the race ahead of this evening’s deadline…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills released her first attack ad against her Democratic primary rival in the race for U.S. Senate, oyster farmer Graham Platner, highlighting social media comments he made about sexual assault that have marred his campaign. In the ad, several women read disparaging comments made by Platner on Reddit over a decade ago relating to rape, and a picture of Platner’s Nazi tattoo — which he has since had covered — is displayed under a magnifying glass. “The closer you look, the worse it gets,” the ad’s narrator says…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights the gamble being made by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as he expends political capital (and actual capital) backing his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate taking place today. Pritzker’s involvement has drawn the ire of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is backing Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), even though both Stratton and Kelly are Black. The race is seen as a test of Pritzker’s political clout in his home state…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day and the presence of former Irish President Mary Robinson in New York to accuse Israel of committing genocide and to praise Robinson’s controversial tenure as the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
“I think also of how she stood steadfast alongside the people of Palestine,” the mayor said in listing Robinson’s accomplishments. “I say this as over the past few years as we’ve witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many. For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new. For Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet former President Robinson has never been silent”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a rundown of the results of Illinois’ Democratic primaries, where polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is expected to face questions over the departure of her deputy, Joe Kent, at the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing on worldwide threats, where she will testify alongside other intelligence agency heads. Gabbard said today after Kent’s resignation that, as commander-in-chief, Trump “concluded that … Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” but did not say whether she agrees herself in that assessment, something she is likely to be pressed on tomorrow.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified briefing on the war in Iran from State Department intelligence officials.
The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to be secretary of homeland security after Trump’s ouster of Secretary Kristi Noem.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom will hold a hearing on rising antisemitism abroad.
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Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sits for an interview at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on June 11, 2025.
This P.M. edition is reserved for our premium subscribers — offering a forward-focused read on what we’re tracking now and what’s coming next. Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback by replying to this email.
📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
European countries are largely rebuffing President Donald Trump’s calls to join the war with Iran and help secure the largely impassable Strait of Hormuz. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said today, “This is not our war; we did not start it,” while the French foreign ministry said, “Posture has not changed: defensive it is.” Poland, the U.K. and Italy similarly made clear they would not be participating in an offensive capacity…
On potential negotiations with Iran, Trump told reporters, “We don’t even know their leaders. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are.” He said new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “badly disfigured” and noted it’s “unusual” he hasn’t recently been seen in public.
Khamenei narrowly survived an airstrike on his compound on Feb. 28 as he briefly stepped outside, according to leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph, which reportedly contains remarks by an official in the office of deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to senior clerics…
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani denied reports that Israel is running low on missile interceptors, saying there is no “urgent problem” and that the military re-equips its supplies “in real time”…
Debris and missile fragments from Iranian attacks fell in the Old City of Jerusalem near several sensitive sites including the Western Wall Plaza and feet away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre…
Twenty-three Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote to Trump requesting a public hearing with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to understand their role in “lead[ing] diplomatic engagement with Iran”…
Representatives of the U.S.-led Board of Peace met with Hamas officials over the weekend in Cairo, Egypt, Reuters reports, in an effort to keep ceasefire negotiations on track even as the war with Iran proceeds. Aryeh Lightstone, an aide to Witkoff, reportedly represented the U.S. delegation, with more meetings expected this week…
Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian chronicles his experience receiving death threats from users of the prediction market platform Polymarket over his reporting on a recent Iranian missile strike in the city of Beit Shemesh…
Trump announced that Susie Wiles, his White House chief of staff, has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and will receive treatment while remaining in her post…
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, tested out his measured, pro-Israel messaging in a series of recent podcast interviews, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. In his appearances on “Pod Save America” and “Higher Learning,” Shapiro made the case that, as the starting point for any public political conversation about Israel, the fact of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state must be respected.
“I think what is dangerous here … is for those who think Israel doesn’t have a right to exist in [the] conversation. That to me is a recipe for permanent war,” Shapiro told “Higher Learning” host Van Lathan. He also pushed back on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, his potential 2028 opponent, for saying Israel could be described as an apartheid state…
Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) reelection campaign is employing a community activist, Darrell Davis, who has criticized Democratic politicians, including Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) and a county executive, for taking money from pro-Israel groups and traveling to Israel, Politico reports.
Davis accused Latimer of being on the receiving end of a “Jewish organized spending spree” and taking “about $30 million to buy a congressional seat, to represent the interests of Israel,” which he called “a horrific threat to democracy.” About Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins’ trip to Israel, Davis wrote, “Why are they in Israel?? What more proof do people need that black Dems don’t give a sh*t about you. They are up for sale”…
The day before her primary election in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, far-left social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh removed language from her campaign website claiming “There is no acceptable scenario that leaves Hamas in charge of the Gaza Strip,” after she had faced criticism from the Hamas-friendly outlet Drop Site News over its inclusion. Her site says that the earlier language on the page “did not accurately reflect Kat’s views or the values of this campaign”…
And the closing drama in the Illinois Senate Democratic primary is Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s claim that she received a deathbed endorsement from civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, which the Jackson family said today he had never finalized. The late reverend’s support is seen as meaningful in the race, which includes multiple prominent Black candidates, as well as Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)…
The Atlantic spotlights one of the main obstacles facing Maine Gov. Janet Mills in her Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against oyster farmer Graham Platner: her age. Mills, 78, “does not have a dicey Reddit history or a recently covered-over Nazi tattoo” but is still trailing in the polls, even as Platner continues to be plagued by scandals. “One likely factor: If she is elected, Mills would be the oldest freshman senator in history”…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for a look at the tense runoff in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, where a fringe conspiracy theorist eked out a narrow victory over a sheriff’s deputy backed by the pro-Israel establishment.
All eyes will be on the Prairie State tomorrow, as several high-profile Democratic primaries will be decided across Illinois. Read JI’s coverage of the races to watch.
On the Hill, the House Intelligence Committee will hold its annual hearing on worldwide threats, with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, NSA Acting Director William Hartman and DIA Director James Adams.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on reforming U.S. defense sales.
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The potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel is a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
Families leave after being reunited outside Temple Israel synagogue after an assailant rammed his truck into the building in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, on March 12, 2026.
It’s a testament to the level of security, staff preparation and good fortune that a potential terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit was foiled yesterday. The fact that no one other than the heavily armed perpetrator was killed after driving a vehicle filled with explosives into a synagogue filled with preschoolers, counts as something of a miracle.
It’s also a reminder of the consequences of what can happen when antisemitism is allowed to become normalized in our society, moving unchecked through our social media feeds and political discourse, all amid the record levels of hate crimes committed against Jews simply for their identity.
Even as politicians are reflexively speaking out against antisemitism in the aftermath of the attack, it’s hard to forget the poisonous rhetoric many on the extremes have advanced that could easily activate a lone-wolf extremist to commit an unspeakable crime.
On the hard left, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has morphed into accusations of genocide, attacks against AIPAC as a uniquely sinister organization, conspiracy theories that Israel tricked the U.S. into war with Iran and euphemizing the support of terrorism as merely being “pro-Palestinian.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has emerged as one of his party’s leading anti-Israel voices as he mulls a presidential campaign, had the audacity to say he “stands with” antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker — along with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has refused to condemn “globalize the intifada” rhetoric and anti-Israel Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner — during the Michigan synagogue terror attack.
Former Obama deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and his “Pod Save America” colleagues are now declaring that anyone who supports the Iran war — a group that may well include some Jewish Democrats in Congress who are sympathetic to the operation’s aims, even if they have reservations — should be primaried, and have no place within the Democratic Party.
On the hard right, extremist podcasters are broadcasting the most undiluted antisemitism in media since the days of Father Coughlin in the 1930s. Tucker Carlson has devoted much of his show to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, while other social media influencers have found that attacking Israel and questioning Jewish influence is a ticket to building a niche audience in online spaces. Gatherings of young right-wingers have all too often become cesspools of anti-Jewish hate.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has emerged as a leader in speaking out against right-wing antisemitism, cautioned that Republicans may be losing the fight to contain the scourge — especially among a younger generation of conservatives.
All this is happening amid relative bipartisan silence towards the social media companies that often profit through division, using tech-tailored algorithms to feed extreme content to unsuspecting audiences. It’s no coincidence that polls indicate dramatic levels of antisemitism and extremist views from the youngest Americans, who are marinating in echo chambers instead of reading the headlines dispassionately from newspapers, as the generation before them did.
That the only fatality from yesterday’s attack in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., was the assailant is a testament to the time, energy and money that the Jewish community, with some federal assistance, has dedicated to ensuring security for its many institutions across the country. The FBI’s recent active shooter preparedness drill held for clergy and staff at the synagogue undoubtedly led them to be prepared in that fraught moment Thursday.
But a strong defense — hardening security for Jewish institutions — requires a complementary offense, in leaders confronting rising extremism whenever it rears its ugly head. It shouldn’t take the avoidance of a mass casualty event to get candidates across the political spectrum to start speaking out against antisemitism, as Platner did on Thursday.
We saw some signs of growing courage from political leaders this week in calling out the hate emanating from their fringes. Cruz, who called Carlson “the single most dangerous demagogue in this country,” at an antisemitism conference this week co-sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition and National Review, was joined by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Jim Banks (R-IN) in speaking out against anti-Jewish hate.
The moderate Democratic think tank Third Way directly confronted Khanna on Thursday for his praise of Piker and other anti-Israel figures in the party. “Our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Third Way VP Matt Bennett bluntly told JI, in one of the few public intraparty acknowledgements about the growing threat.
The country feels like it’s at a boiling point, with few institutional leaders providing the guardrails necessary to contain growing extremism and hate. We saw on Thursday where unchecked extremism leads. It will take leaders to put principles ahead of political expedience for the wave of antisemitism to subside.
As state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Democrat who represents the district where the attack took place, wrote: “When I was growing up, antisemitism was primarily in history books and black and white film reels. Today it was in real color right up the road at Temple Israel … This is a fire that will take all of us to snuff out.”
Plus, Ro Khanna defends Hasan Piker amid Mich. attack
Emily Elconin/Getty Images
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter on March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield, Mich.
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📡On Our Radar
Notable developments and interesting tidbits we’re tracking
A suspect was killed during an active shooter and car ramming incident at Temple Israel in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, Mich., this afternoon, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
Armed synagogue security engaged the suspect with gunfire, and a security guard who was knocked unconscious is expected to recover. A preschool that was in session at the time of the incident was evacuated safely. Authorities are continuing to investigate the suspect’s identity and motive.
“Everyone is safe. All 140 students in our Susan and Harold Loss Early Childhood Center, our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe,” the synagogue wrote on social media. “This note is coming to you before we know anything about our future programming or services, or any investigation. We wanted you to know we are safe, and we love you all”…
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, issued his first public statement today that indicates he’s as hard-line as his late father: Khamenei demanded the U.S. shut all its military bases in the Gulf immediately and said he’ll continue to target the Strait of Hormuz in order to “pressure the enemy.” His statement was read on state media indirectly by a presenter, as reports indicate the 56-year-old was injured in an Israeli strike and he has not been seen in public since.
President Donald Trump did not seem dissuaded — he posted on Truth Social, “when oil prices go up” the U.S. makes “a lot of money,” but “of far greater importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons”…
Following a Republican convening this week focused on combating right-wing antisemitism, the center-left think tank Third Way urged fellow Democrats to follow the lead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in calling out antisemitism within their own party.
“We certainly believe that Cruz was right and our side has a real antisemitism problem too that too many Democrats are failing to face squarely,” Matt Bennett, the group’s executive vice president for public affairs, told JI’s Gabby Deutch.
Similar comments from Third Way staff sparked a public clash with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who defended controversial left-wing figures including antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker and said the true issue lies with the “neocons” in the party…
Less than a week until primary election day in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, outside spending in the race is approaching $9 million, the majority of which is aimed at boosting state Sen. Laura Fine, a pro-Israel Democrat. Nearly half of all outside spending has come from the Elect Chicago Women super PAC, widely rumored to be connected to pro-Israel groups.
Another PAC rumored to be connected to AIPAC, Chicago Progressive Partnership, has spent over $1 million attacking anti-Israel social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh, including a new ad that spotlights her support from James “Fergie” Cox Chambers Jr., a communist political activist and scion of the billionaire Cox family often involved in radical-left causes…
A new poll commissioned by the far-left advocacy group Justice Democrats finds Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) in a competitive race for his seat — he’s now neck-and-neck with his primary opponent, state Rep. Justin Pearson. Pearson, a progressive legislator, gained public attention for being expelled from the Statehouse in 2023 for participating in a gun control protest on the floor…
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Assemblyman Micah Lasher, his former staffer, in the hotly contested primary race for New York’s 12th Congressional District today, calling him “a key part of our team in City Hall.” Bloomberg plans to spend “millions of dollars” on a super PAC and ad campaign to boost Lasher, The New York Times reports, a notable effort by the popular former mayor to elevate Lasher among the pack…
Trump has delayed endorsing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Texas Senate runoff against Attorney General Ken Paxton, which Trump implied last week he would do imminently, instead using the potential endorsement to pressure Senate Republicans to change filibuster rules and pass his voter-ID bill. Paxton raised the stakes by saying he might drop out if the bill passes, a move that forced Cornyn to shift his stance on the filibuster…
The Boston Globe looks at Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) efforts to get on the Democratic primary ballot in his race against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), which will require him to receive support from 15% of delegates at the state Democratic Party’s upcoming convention. Moulton is attempting to recruit unregistered voters to become delegates in order to boost his chances, which observers are split on…
Politico uncovers the past political stances and writings of Morris Katz, the Democratic operative and anti-Israel whisperer now behind several high-profile progressive campaigns, when he lauded former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and derided progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)…
Shortly after the organization elevated a new political director who is closely tied to neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, College Republicans of America’s chapter at Georgetown University came under investigation by the school for a social media post in which it claimed “Muslims have no place in American society”…
The Wall Street Journal spotlights Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, as he “stay[s] out of the politics of the war” in Iran “and remains focused on waging it”…
The Treasury Department issued sanctions against four “sham charity” groups in Turkey and Indonesia that it said are funneling money and resources to Hamas’ military wing, JI’s Marc Rod reports…
⏩ Tomorrow’s Agenda, Today
An early look at tomorrow’s storylines and schedule to keep you a step ahead
Keep an eye out in Jewish Insider for reaction to today’s attack on Michigan’s Temple Israel from Jewish leaders and leading lawmakers.
The South by Southwest festival will hold its annual #openShabbat experience for Jews in tech, film and music tomorrow in Austin, Texas.
A Saturday fundraiser for Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) with an appearance by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Nunn’s home district in Iowa has been canceled; the event, called “Top Nunn” in reference to the “Top Gun” movies, had drawn scrutiny after several soldiers who had been stationed in Nunn’s district were killed in the course of the war with Iran.
The Jewish Funders Network international conference starts Sunday in San Diego.
HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir performs at Lincoln Center in New York City on Sunday evening.
The Zionist Organization of America will host its Florida Superstar Gala Sunday evening, where it will honor Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel; Justice Department official Leo Terrell; and Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), among others.
We’ll be back in your inbox with the Daily Overtime on Monday. Shabbat Shalom!
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