Nolan Finley: The case against Hezbollah

Nolan Finley, The Detroit News on Apr 3, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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For those who can't tell the difference between a selfless freedom fighter and a murderous terrorist, the FBI last week offered clarity.

In addressing the motivation for the attempted bombing on March 12 of Temple Israel, the bureau's Detroit office laid the blame squarely on the influence of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror group and Iran proxy.

Ayman Ghazali, who drove a truck into the West Bloomfield synagogue with the hope of killing the Jewish school children inside, was "was motivated and inspired by Hezbollah's militant ideology," the FBI said.

Leading up to the attack, he had gorged on Hezbollah propaganda.

His final message to his family was, "God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can." By "them," he could only have meant the Jewish students who were the primary occupants of the temple at that time.

Those words and the ideology that inspired them should be enlightening for those in our community who struggle to call out Hezbollah for what it is: a terrorist group committed to the destruction of Israel and the death of Jews.

Last week, Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat, was caught on tape explaining to his staffers he wanted to avoid taking a position on the assassination of Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because "there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad about it." Iran under Khamenei was the primary sponsor of Hezbollah and an avowed enemy of America.

When asked about the recording, El-Sayed dismissed it as a "distraction." Well, not for the parents of those temple students, whose sleep is still tortured by what might have been.

The Detroit News recently wrote about the debate locally over whether Hezbollah is a terrorist outfit or a charitable foundation. Some leading members of the Arab-American community offered a defense of Hezbollah. Their ranks include Osama Siblani, one of the more influential businessmen in Dearborn, who repeated his oft-quoted view that, "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist."

Is fighting for freedom what Ghazali was doing when he loaded his vehicle with fireworks and gasoline and set it afire in a building where children were studying?

There's no room for moral ambivalence as our country defends itself against domestic terrorism bred by a twisted, hateful ideology that has been killing Americans and others for decades.

It's pointless to denounce the act, as most Hezbollah defenders interviewed did, without condemning its motivator.

The case against Hezbollah as a terrorist organization is iron clad. The evidence includes the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed hundreds, as well as the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. Hezbollah is credited for both.

It is also engaged every day in random rocket attacks on Israeli citizens, firing into civilian neighborhoods indiscriminately with the goal of creating panic and disrupting daily life. It has taken its attacks well beyond Israel to kill Jews everywhere they live, including the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina.

In July 2024, a missile fired by Hezbollah at a Druze village hit a soccer field, murdering 12 children while they were playing.

With the advent of the Internet and social media, Hezbollah is offering correspondence courses in committing terror, poisoning zealots such as Ghazali, who would rather destroy Jewish children than peacefully raise his own.

A couple of years ago the head of an advocacy group stopped by our offices at The News to discuss better relations with the Lebanese community.

Asked about the role of Hezbollah in Lebanon, she described it as "our defender," adding it was all that stood between the Lebanese people and Israel.

What an incredibly distorted view of reality. Hezbollah undermines the sovereignty of Lebanon by dragging it into wars and inviting retaliation against its people. Its currency is blood. It covers its crimes by running a social services network. But as long as Hezbollah exists, there will be no peace in the Middle East.

The United States has declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The Temple Israel bombing attempt confirms the wisdom of that designation.

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