A contributor to a George Soros-funded media outlet is defending a deadly car-bomb attack on a Michigan synagogue and preschool as an act of self-defense, arguing that the Jewish congregation was engaged in criminality because of its support for pro-Israel charities.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Abubaker Abed, a self-described Palestinian journalist and prominent social media activist, framed last Thursdays attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, as a legally justified response to alleged Israeli aggression. Abed suggested that the attacker, identified by authorities as Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, was acting reasonably to defend [himself] when he rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the synagogue complex, which also houses a preschool.
A person is not criminally responsible if they act reasonably to defend themselves against an imminent and unlawful use of force, Abed wrote in a post on X, attempting to cloak the assault in the language of international law. Israel murdered his relatives and is illegally bombing and invading his country, he added, implying that the presence of a Jewish house of worship supporting Israel rendered it a legitimate target.
Abed argued that Temple Israel was guilty of a crime because of its affiliation with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), a liberal denomination, and its backing of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), a progressive pro-Israel group. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 25, an individual is guilty of a crime if they aid, abet, or otherwise assist in committing the crime, he wrote, contending that charitable support for Israel-linked organizations amounted to complicity in war crimes.
Temple Israel in Michigan actively promotes donations to ARZA and its parent organisation [URJ], which support the Reform movement in Israel that supports the Israeli military as an essential institution for national security, Abed continued, equating mainstream Jewish religious and philanthropic activity with direct participation in armed conflict. The fact that they do this in a temple doesn't rule out its gravity and criminality, he added, before drawing a parallel to Israeli counterterrorism operations: Reminder that Israel always claims mosques were used by Hamas and has obliterated most of them in Gaza under the pretext of defending itself.
Abed did not respond to a request for comment about his remarks, which critics say cross the line from political advocacy into open justification of terrorism against American Jews. Drop Site News cofounder Ryan Grim, however, defended his contributor in an email, insisting that the post had been misinterpreted and was intended as a critique of Israeli policy rather than an endorsement of violence.
"You're misreading that, he's pointing out the double standard at work from Israeli defenders who justify killing even the children of anybody distantly linked to any organization they don't like," Grim said, attempting to recast Abeds legalistic framing of the bombing as rhetorical provocation. Abeds comments were posted in response to an earlier thread from Grim, who had shared photos of children reportedly related to Ghazali and allegedly killed in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
Watchdog organizations, including Honest Reporting, condemned Grims post and Abeds subsequent defense of the attack as an effort to rationalize anti-Jewish terror. Their criticism reflects a broader concern that left-wing and pro-Palestinian media spaces are normalizing violence against Jews by recasting terrorism as resistance or self-defense whenever the victims have even tangential ties to Israel.
Ghazali, whose brother was a Hezbollah commander according to Israeli officials, was killed after he drove his bomb-filled car into Temple Israels grounds, injuring a member of the synagogues security team. He then engaged in a shootout with another armed guard, underscoring the importance of private security and the right of religious institutions to defend themselves in an era of rising anti-Semitic violence.
Abed, a Gaza-based influencer, has been a regular contributor to Drop Site News, which presents him as a frontline reporter on Israels war against Hamas. He said in January that he has worked with Drop Site for many months and still do, praising the outlet as almost the only outlet that has credibly reported on Hamas movement news and risked its reputation for it, while Drop Site cofounder Jeremy Scahill said in an April video that he and Abed talk every night.
Drop Site itself has a record of amplifying anti-Israel disinformation under the guise of investigative journalism. In June, Grim circulated a video purporting to show Israeli soldiers massacring Palestinians at a humanitarian aid site, but the BBC later determined that the footageshowing no Israeli troops and filmed nearly three miles from the nearest aid distribution pointwas misrepresented, with the attack believed to have been carried out by Hamas.
Abeds record extends beyond misleading narratives into explicit incitement against Jews as a people. "O Allah, unleash Your curse upon the Jews," he wrote in a March 2024 X post, adding, "O Allah, cause the earth to swallow them, burn them, and shake the ground beneath them."
He openly celebrated Hamass Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities while they were still underway, declaring they will bode well for the long-waited liberation. In other posts, he wrote, "I wish I were a resistance fighter!" and insisted that "resistance is existence. We must support Palestine's right to self-defense. Our resistance fighters are heroes."
Abed has also glorified the kidnappers holding Israeli civilians in Gaza, writing that the "most honourable people these Israeli families have ever met in their lives are our resistance fighters. The heroes of humanity and the world." His rhetoric mirrors that of extremist groups that portray terrorism as moral heroism, even when it targets unarmed civilians and children.
In February, Abed mourned the reported death of Iranian dictator Ali Khamenei, calling it an "immeasurable, irreplaceable loss for the axis of resistance. A genuine, brave leader who unflinchingly resisted the fascist empire and gave, sacrificed, and died for Palestine." He likewise lamented the deaths of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, praising them as "resistance fighters who heroically fell in battle in Gaza and Lebanon" and "who have fought for the liberation."
The episode highlights a troubling pattern in segments of the progressive media ecosystem, where Soros-backed platforms and their contributors increasingly blur the line between advocacy and apologia for terrorism. As Drop Site News stands by a writer who prays for the destruction of Jews and rationalizes a bomb attack on an American synagogue, questions grow about how much longer such rhetoric can be dismissed as mere resistance rather than recognized as the incitement and moral inversion that it plainly is.
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