In March, Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan became the target of a terror attack and suffered extensive damage as a result. The terror attack was a national story. Yet only CBS carried the temple’s reopening.
Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on the CBS Evening News on Thursday, September 17th, 2026:
WATCH: @CBSEveningNews is the only major network evening newscast to cover the reopening of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, severely damaged after a terror attack in March. pic.twitter.com/bgUz4GIVIf
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 18, 2026
TONY DOKOUPIL: We also want to tell you about six months after a terrorist ramming a truck full of explosives into that synagogue in Michigan, we are seeing the first images of the building restored and reopened. A report tonight from Jonah Kaplan, who covered the attack and now takes us back for a recovery just in time for the Jewish high holidays.
JONAH KAPLAN: Six months after an attack on the synagogue, a new FBI bulletin obtained by CBS News warns continued conflicts in the Middle East could provoke more violence here at home. The bulletin also comes during the Jewish high holy days. Back in March a gunman rammed his truck packed with explosives into temple Israel, one of the country's largest synagogues. On that day, 140 school children were taken to shelter leaving behind lunches and backpacks.
ARIANA GORDON: There were two classrooms. Our youngest children who were there.
KAPLAN: Education director Rabbi Arianna Gordon walked us through what happened. The truck literally got stuck right here, in between the door?
GORDON: In between the door- and couldn't get any further. And thank God he got stuck here because had he been able to get further, we had classes who were in the social hall that we used as a gym just next door.
KAPLAN: Federal investigators identified the attacker as Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, a naturalized citizen from Lebanon who lived in nearby Dearborn Heights. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Six months later, there was restoration and reminders of the attack throughout temple Israel's campus. But there's also a sense of renewal. The sanctuary reopened last week just in time to welcome the Jewish new year.
KAPLAN: He called this a miracle.
JENNIFER KALUZNY: It was a miracle. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears and a miracle. You can fortify this place with all kinds of physical improvements but the sense of worry is still there can we make sure. That's what it means to be a Jew in America.
KAPLAN: Total cost of the damages, according to the temple, is $40 million. That does not include $12 million just for security enhancements. The preschool also opened this month, Tony, and every child received a bear like this. They call it a Sheheceyanu Bear. It’d a reference to a Jewish prayer sanctifying life. Tony.
DOKOUPIL: Very sweet. Jonah, thank you very much.
Correspondent Jonah Kaplan gave the story a beautiful treatment, allowing Temple Israel’s resilience to speak for itself. The facility suffered extensive damage but is ready to serve the community once again.
Temple Israel was also in the news as of late because of intemperate comments made by Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who replied “hurt people hurt people” when talking about the March terror attack. El-Sayed recently held a closed door meeting with Temple Israel’s rabbis.
Per Jewish Insider:
In the most significant sign of his efforts to make inroads with skeptical Jewish voters in Michigan’s Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee, recently met with rabbis at Temple Israel for a closely guarded conversation, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Two rabbis who were said to have participated in the conversation, details of which were unclear, declined to comment when reached on Wednesday. El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The covert nature of the meeting, which neither party has publicized, underscores the sensitivities felt among some Jewish leaders who have remained wary of publicly associating with El-Sayed because of their continued discomfort with his positions on Israel and remarks about antisemitism.
The politics of the attack on Temple Israel quickly faded from public view, even as El-Sayed’s candidacy gained steam. But they won’t remain hidden for long. Perhaps, in part, this might be the reason why ABC and NBC didn’t cover the reopening of Temple Israel: the politics of it all, and the uncomfortable truth behind the underlying attack. Credit to CBS for not looking away and unblinkingly covering this story.
