Gov. Gavin Newsom would like you to know that he’s absolutely outraged at an anti-Semitic act of terror in Michigan, although don’t expect him to apologize for his anti-Semitic dog-whistles.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Lebanese-born man rammed his car into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan — one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States — before being fatally shot by security.
The only person dead, thankfully, was the attempted mass murderer. According to The Associated Press, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office called the attack a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
BREAKING: Car crashes into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, in what police are calling an “active situation.”
According to local reports, a vehicle crashed into the Jewish synagogue before shots were fired.
Oakland County deputies say an individual purposely drove… pic.twitter.com/ys3RvVRnkP
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 12, 2026
While Lebanon is a pluralistic religious society, the number of monotheisms present there that might inspire someone to run a car into a synagogue and start shooting is singular — and, indeed, someone with the name Ayman Mohamad Ghazali is the man who apparently pulled it off. The middle name might be a bit of a giveaway as to what the motive was, particularly on the day that a man previously convicted for ties to the Islamic State group was involved in a shooting incident at Old Dominion University in Virginia.
Meanwhile, Temple Israel said in a statement that the congregation had been “the victim of a terrorist gunman who was confronted and neutralized by our security personnel who are truly heroes. Our teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm.” All students and faculty were safe.
Naturally, this is time for politicians to express sympathy for the Jewish community amid a rising tide of anti-Semitism in the United States; this is especially true for 2028 presidential contenders, of which California Gov. Gavin Newsom is certainly one, having all but declared officially.
“We are praying for the Temple Israel synagogue community in West Bloomfield. Antisemitism is vile!” the Governor Newsom Press Office social media account — usually known for its flippant, sarcastic attacks on Republicans — posted in the wake of the attack.
Newsom quote-posted this, along with his own statement: “Antisemitism is disgusting. My heart is with the Jewish community in Michigan today,” he said.
“California is coordinating with our law enforcement partners to keep our Jewish communities safe.”
Antisemitism is disgusting. My heart is with the Jewish community in Michigan today.
California is coordinating with our law enforcement partners to keep our Jewish communities safe. https://t.co/5V5Bz8tPqq
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 12, 2026
Of course, as many people pointed out, if Newsom wanted “to keep our Jewish communities safe,” he could always just shut his yap mouth and stop spouting anti-Semitic dog-whistles designed to entice the far-left to support him.
Consider that, a little over a week ago, Newsom trotted out one of the most common libels about the Jewish people, saying about Israel that some on his side “are talking about it appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”
“It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration,” said Newsom in a podcast appearance, according to Politico.
Newsom’s comments were hit by pushback from the Jewish community — as they should have been, since the canard that Israel is an “apartheid state” is one of the most common anti-Semitic tropes there is.
“Newsom’s comments come at a dangerous moment, as antisemitism rises across the United States,” wrote Rabbi Reuven Taff, former leader of the Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento, California, in an Op-Ed in Jewish Journal the day after Newsom’s remarks. “Jewish students face harassment, synagogues are threatened, and fringe rhetoric has gone mainstream. Calling Israel an ‘apartheid’ state is not neutral commentary — it’s a weapon that isolates Israel and encourages attacks on Jews.”
Which, you know, is accurate. Newsom, as the Jewish News of Northern California noted, tried to downplay the remarks by pawning them off as something columnist Thomas Friedman had said, and his staff met briefly with Jewish community leaders on a Zoom call to try and patch things up. While participants described that discussion as “constructive,” there still remains the fact that Newsom gave rhetorical cover to the worst Jew-hating elements in American society just a week before the synagogue attack occurred — something that didn’t go unnoticed when he published his statement about helping “to keep our Jewish communities safe.”
SIT DOWN https://t.co/BVkQbQvKJi
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) March 12, 2026
You can start supporting the Jewish community by recognizing that antizionism is a hate movement and that it’s sole function is to create a permission structure that allows for harm to come to Jews and Israelis. The first step is to stop repeating libels. If you continue to… pic.twitter.com/Th24kvJe6A
— ZeNerdess (@ZeNerdess) March 12, 2026
You promote antisemitism when you fail to condemn it in your own party. Have you ever condemned Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar or AOC?
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) March 12, 2026
So, is he going to take any steps to rectify this, aside from “constructive” Zoom calls with Jewish leaders? Probably not, given the fact that he’s reportedly scheduled to make an appearance with rebarbative Jew-hating Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, according to Piker himself:
Update: Hasan Piker announces upcoming stream with Gavin Newsom https://t.co/bCNIxhEIx2 pic.twitter.com/G4SvXxAG8J
— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) March 6, 2026
I mean, why not hit up Nick Fuentes while you’re at it? If you’re going to appeal to the worst elements of the American polity, just go all the way.
This, unfortunately, won’t be a problem limited to Newsom. The Democrats have decided that they’re in thrall to a rabid leftist base whose members either loathe the Jewish people or provide succor to those who do. Newsom may be the only man dumb enough to turn dog whistles into straight-up whistles, effectively referring to Israel as an “apartheid state” one week and decrying anti-Jewish terrorism the next. The problem is that the rest of the party knows how to keep it at a dog-whistle level — and the media, alas, has no stomach to call them out for it.
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