Since the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, government officials have said their greatest fear is self-radicalized individuals they call “lone wolves.” The March 12 terrorist attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, prompted a Department of Justice news conference on Monday which offered new information about the attack and a debunking of the lone wolf theory.
Jerome Gorgon Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said: “I’ve seen some odd attempts to explain away or even lessen this terrorist attack by claiming that (the attacker) was an isolated lone wolf, but that is misleading. 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 (their) world.'”
The alleged terrorist, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, was a 41-year-old Lebanese national and a naturalized U.S. citizen. The FBI said Ghazali purposefully targeted the Jewish community when he drove his vehicle into Michigan’s largest synagogue and opened fire. He then killed himself before he could fulfill his mission. The Department of Justice alleges Ghazali was directed by Hezbollah. It said this was confirmed by an investigation into his electronic devices and online activity.
Questions abound. Among them, if the FBI knew about Ghazali’s electronic devices and online activity, why didn’t they more closely monitor him, or did they become aware only after the fact?
FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said Ghazali bought an AK-style rifle, 10 magazines and 300 rounds of ammunition from a gun store on March 9 and practiced at a shooting range. His Ford F150 was stocked with commercial-grade fireworks and containers containing more than 30 gallons of gasoline. He is said to have driven to different gas stations to avoid suspicion.