On their Friday evening and Saturday morning newscasts, both CBS and NBC mentioned that the man who attacked the Temple Israel synagogue in Michigan had family members who were a part of Hezbollah and who were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The same could not be said of ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America because both shows only mentioned the part about them dying in an Israeli airstrike.
Alex Perez was up first on Friday’s World News Tonight when he reported, “And tonight, we are learning more about Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon. He recently posted on social media that several of his relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.”
ABC’s Alex Perez and Olivia Rubin both omit any reference to the Temple Israel synagogue attacker’s Hezbollah family members when reporting on how he had family die in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon pic.twitter.com/nreYfMjPsB
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 14, 2026
In addition to his brothers being Hezbollah members, it has also been reported that Ghazali had suspected Hezbollah contacts in his phone. This isn’t to say ABC downplayed the anti-Semitic nature of the attack, for Perez immediately played a clip of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proclaiming it was, but his ties to a terrorist group have ramifications for immigration-related debates, and Perez just ignored them.
As did colleague Olivia Rubin on Saturday’s Good Morning America. She declared, “Investigators still searching for a motive, but they say the suspect had ties to the war in the Middle East, specifically four family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon according to officials. His two brothers, a four-year-old niece and a seven-year-old nephew, his wife critically injured too.”
It is perfectly reasonable for people to want other people who immigrate to this country to not share the beliefs of their terrorist brothers, but if you only watched ABC, you would not have been provided with that information.
Here are transcripts for the March 13 and 14 shows:
ABC World News Tonight
3/13/2026
6:33 PM ET
ALEX PEREZ: And tonight, we are learning more about Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon. He recently posted on social media that several of his relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.
GRETCHEN WHITMER: Yesterday’s attack was anti-Semitism. It was hate, plain and simple. We will fight this ancient and rampant evil. We will stand together as we do it. We will call it out.
PEREZ: Tonight, the community grateful no members of the congregation were hurt in the attack. Especially none of the 140 little kids there for preschool.
***
ABC Good Morning America
3/14/2026
8:10 PM ET
OLIVA RUBIN: Investigators still searching for a motive, but they say the suspect had ties to the war in the Middle East, specifically four family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon according to officials. His two brothers, a four-year-old niece and a seven-year-old nephew, his wife critically injured too.
Overnight, the Temple Israel community gathered together for their weekly Shabbat service. Grateful that no members of the congregation were hurt in the attack, especially any of the 140 children there for preschool.
