CNN Analyst, NBC Journo Use Synagogue Attack to Insist We Remember Persians Too

In the early moments after Thursday’s attack on the massive Temple Israel complex in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, far-left CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyeem and NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell made sure we didn’t lose sight of another group of victims in this moment of increased violence against people of faith: Muslims.

Yes, dear readers, they did the infamous Norm MacDonald tweet.

Kayyem weighed in just after 1:45 p.m. Eastern that “people that I talked to right now who are in the state and local world are worried about two things” with one being “attacks against the Jewish community” and the other being “attacks against Iranian Americans.”

Click the tweet to both watch this scalding hot take and see her full comments in context:

Unless she meant to cite Arabs in context of, say, pro-Iranian regime sleeper cells attacking pro-democracy Iranian Americans, we have a classic case of both-sidesism (like her from Elissa Slotkin — one of Michigan’s Democrat senators — condemning anti-Semitism and hate writ large).

Kayyem, a frequent flier here at NewsBusters, offered low-grade analysis on one major story after another last year. When it came to the anti-ICE shooter opening fire on a Dallas, Texas facility, Kayeem argued they couldn’t have been a leftist despite having “anti-ICE” emblazoned on a gun shell.

Downplaying inconvenient narratives are her forte. In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, she repeatedly dismissed the idea suspect Tyler Robinson was on the left. A month earlier, she did the same in batting away the reality that a Minneapolis Catholic Church was attacked by a trans teen ravaged with hate for Catholicism.

Kayyem also ripped those labeling the New Orleans attack as ISIS-inspired terrorism, downplayed the role of anti-Semitism in the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, and minimized the role of anti-Semitism in the flamethrowing incident in Colorado.

Shifting to the NBC News Special Report, longtime correspondent Kelly O’Donnell asked viewers to consider the fact that Jewish Michiganders also live in “coexistence” with “one of the largest communities inside the United States of Arab-American communities” (click “expand”):

OF COURSE: NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell makes sure viewers know the “sensitivity” of an attack on a Detroit-area Jewish synagogue, school, and JCC because the area contains a “coexistence” between the “prominent Jewish community” and “one of the largest communities inside the United… pic.twitter.com/HFUKrlcrv9

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 12, 2026

As we’ve all been watching this, you can see in the pictures coming from the scene, the enormous law enforcement presence there. That is an indication — a measure of how sensitive these matters are. Of course, in other communities around the country, we’ve already seen an elevation of security around, especially religious sites and especially those in the Jewish community. This particular location is home to a community of 3,000 Jewish families. As you pointed out, there is a school, there is childcare on the site, and it is a hub of the community, as it’s been described by those who live there. And so, because of the wider context of the war with Iran, and also, of course, remember, Detroit is always sensitive to these issues because not only is there a prominent Jewish community, but it’s one of the largest communities inside the United States of Arab-American communities of various nationalities. And so, there is a coexistence that exists in Michigan that is particularly attuned to these issues. 

And so, what we have seen is the FBI director has already put out that his resources are going to support those here in Michigan. The — of course, there is a field office in Detroit, and any additional things they need are in place. In addition, we’ve seen how Governor Gretchen Whitmer has called this heartbreaking. It is a measure of the sensitivity of the moment. As we are still learning details here. We know that historically, there have been a number of deadly attacks associated with Jewish communities, synagogues, related museums and so forth here in the Washington, D.C. area. And so because of that, there is a heightened sense of not only ongoing daily security. And in this instance, we understand that it was the security on the property that engaged that person who was driving a truck toward them. That was the first line of defense. Those kinds of defenses are being hardened in many communities around the country as a standard precaution. That is a posture they take regularly, and then they heighten it in the climate that we’re in right now, with the U.S. engaged in Iran, with heated rhetoric, with threats, and as simply to be cautious. And so as this unfolds, we’ll learn more details. But they’re clearly federal resources here, community-based resources and a lot of worry in that neighborhood.

Weekday afternoon MS NOW host Katy Tur went down the same path as Kayyem in the 2:00 p.m. Eastern hour: “So, there was an incident at a [Mormon] church recently as well…And there have been incidents within the Muslim community also in Michigan. It seems like anybody of faith right now is a little bit more nervous about practicing their faith as much as they, you know, wish that were not the case.”

Shamefully, MS NOW had another tactic of blaming the Trump administration.

And that was not all MS NOW had to offer. Our intern Nicholas Spinnato had more of their insane hot takes, including Tur and All In host Chris Hayes blaming Republicans and arguing the right has a far more prominent and troubling issue with anti-Semitism than the left.

To see the relevant transcripts from March 12, click here (for CNN), here (for MS NOW), and here (for NBC).