Federal authorities revealed that the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township was motivated by Hezbollah ideology. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, rammed his truck into the synagogue after days of planning, killing himself in a firefight with security guards.

Authorities said Ghazali spent two hours outside the temple before the attack, sending 19 messages to his sister in Lebanon that expressed his intent to commit terrorism. The messages included references to martyrdom and described his plan to target what he considered the largest gathering of Jews in Michigan. Just minutes before the attack, he recorded himself saying in Arabic, 'I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.'

Investigators found the truck loaded with fireworks and traced Ghazali's activities in the days before the attack. He had purchased an assault-style rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition, practiced at a shooting range, and spent over $2,200 on fireworks. He also made multiple trips to gas stations, using about 35 gallons of gasoline to make the fireworks more flammable.

Several days before the attack, four of Ghazali's relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, including his brother Ibrahim, whom Israel identified as a Hezbollah commander. While authorities could not confirm Ghazali's membership in Hezbollah, they emphasized that terrorist propaganda can activate 'lone wolf' attackers without direct organizational ties.