After synagogue attack, Jewish leaders say 'preparations mattered'

Clergy and staff members at the temple had just undergone FBI-led active-shooter training in January, according to the bureau's Detroit field office.

Jewish community leaders say the March 12 attack on a synagogue in suburban Detroit shows that antisemitic violence remains a major threat as the Iran war continues — but also demonstrates community resilience and the value of preparation.

“Our security concerns are what they have been amid the rising calls for violence – that people are going to act on that,” said Michael Masters, national director and CEO of Secure Community Network, a Chicago-based organization that helps establish and train security committees in local Jewish communities.

The community as a whole has been working for years to enhance institutional safety and security measures given what it views as an increasingly threatening environment. Fears of such attacks have risen since the Feb. 28 attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel and the assassination of Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the five days after Operation Epic Fury began, Secure Community Network observed more than 8,200 violent online threats, the highest number ever recorded over a five-day span. Many included direct calls for violence against Jewish facilities. 

In March 12's attack, a 41-year-old Lebanese-born naturalized U.S. citizen rammed his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. FBI officials said the attacker died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as his truck caught fire while exchanging gunfire with two security guards.