At 12:19 p.m., a Ford F-150 smashed through the doors of Temple Israel. It hit the synagogue once, backed up, then drove full speed, tearing down nearly 200 feet of the interior hallway before being wedged between the walls.

Over 100 children were inside.

The truck hit Danny Phillips, the synagogue’s security director, leaving him with severe injuries. Phillips still made his way to a classroom to warn teachers and the children before collapsing. The driver began firing his AR-15 through the windshield. Temple Israel’s armed security guards fired back.

Then the fireworks went off.

Fire and black smoke filled the hallway as teachers locked their doors, hid the children in bathrooms and corners, and carried infants, some of them still in their sleep sacks, away from the building. Police and SWAT moved in through the smoke, wreckage, and broken glass.

Inside the truck was 300 rounds of ammunition and 35 gallons of gas. The gasoline and the fireworks were brought to burn the place down. He was hoping for a grand explosion.

Had the gasoline done what it was intended, the preschool children would have burned alive.

Thankfully it didn’t.

This time, the children came out alive.

The man was Ayman Ghazali and it wasn’t a spontaneous attack. For weeks he had researched the largest Jewish institution in Michigan. He had looked up Temple Israel events. He went and bought an AR with ammunition, practiced shooting, purchased $2,200 worth of fireworks, and made different trips to gather all the gasoline.

The night before the attack he searched, “What time is lunch at Temple Israel?” On the morning of the attack, he called Israel “pure evil” and a “cancerous and malignant growth.” 

Over the past year, I’ve spent more time working with Jews than at any point in my life, writing with them, speaking with them, hearing their hopes and worries from all over the world. I’ve gleaned a few facts about their communal life that non-Jews don’t understand and seldom hear.

One of those facts is their security.

A friend that I write with and who I’m doing a podcast with mentioned armed security in passing. I stopped her........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)