RICHMOND, Va. — A Richmond rabbi is calling for stronger action against antisemitism and hate following a Thursday attack on a Michigan synagogue. Rabbi Dovid Asher says he's bolstered security at Keneseth Beth Israel in response.
Asher, who has led Keneseth Beth Israel for 14 years, said global tensions are too often used to justify hatred closer to home.
On Thursday, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, was killed by security after ramming into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit and driving down a hallway in a vehicle that then caught fire, according to authorities.
Ghazali had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, federal officials said Friday.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.
"How am I going to raise my kids in a world where this is allowed to happen on such a regular basis," Asher said.
According to state data, Jewish Americans represent a small percentage of the population but account for a disproportionate share of religious hate crime victims. Because of those risks and Thursday's attack, Asher said he is boosting security.
"The doors are locked, we have security personnel roaming patrolling the area and now there's even more efforts that are being done to protect the Jewish community here," Asher said.
While Asher didn't feel comfortable to share all of his security measures due to safety reasons, he said discussions are underway with Richmond police to increase patrols. Conversations about lockdown drills and alarm systems were also a priority shortly after the Michigan attack.
Despite his disappointment over the continued violence, Asher said dialogue and solidarity are the first steps to combating hate and antisemitism.
"We really need allies and alliances and friends to speak up and to do what's right and to say we don't want religious hatred in our backyard," Asher said.
He is also calling on elected officials to take stronger action against antisemitism.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a news conference Friday praised Temple Israel's private security for swiftly stopping the attack.
"If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here with children gone," Slotkin said.
Whitmer urged Americans to "lower the rhetoric" amid what she called a rising wave of antisemitism. She said the children attending school at the synagogue were 5 and younger.
"This is targeting babies who are Jewish," Whitmer said. "That is antisemitism at its absolute worst.”
Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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