Staff Reports
Two brazen attacks struck America on March 12, 2026, one at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and another at Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. These were not accidents or isolated incidents — they were violent assaults on our campuses and our houses of worship in broad daylight, and the public deserves straight answers about the who and the why. We cannot let the mainstream media lull us into complacency while our communities remain vulnerable.
At Temple Israel a man drove a vehicle into the building and then fired a rifle before synagogue security officers returned fire and killed the attacker, miraculously preventing a far worse tragedy for congregants and children at the on-site school. The images of smoke and frantic parents outside should jolt every American awake to the reality that domestic soft targets remain exposed. Federal investigators have swarmed the scene and the FBI is involved as the probe continues.
In Norfolk the attacker targeted Reserve Officers’ Training Corps members on campus, killing one person and critically wounding two before a group of brave students intervened to stop the carnage. Federal authorities have openly characterized the Old Dominion shooting as an act of terrorism and are treating the case accordingly, which should end any debate about the seriousness of this threat. This was an attack on young Americans who answer the call to serve, and it deserves the full weight of our law enforcement response.
Even more chilling is who the ODU shooter has been identified as: Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS, served time in federal custody, and was released in December 2024. That fact alone should trigger demands for accountability — how does someone with a terror conviction reenter society unchecked and later commit violence on a campus? If the justice system, prison authorities, or monitoring agencies failed to neutralize the ongoing threat, Americans deserve answers and immediate reforms.
Let’s be blunt: this is the predictable consequence of decades of soft-on-terror policies, revolving-door sentencing, and bureaucratic complacency that treats ideological violence as a social problem instead of a criminal and national security one. Washington’s obsession with optics and rehabilitation rhetoric over hard accountability has real victims — our children, our congregations, and the young men and women who train to protect us. Conservatives will demand tougher sentences for those who plot on behalf of terror groups, better information-sharing between agencies, and transparency about releases and supervision.
Local heroes deserve credit — synagogue security and the students who confronted the Norfolk attacker likely prevented far greater loss of life — but bravery on the ground cannot replace good policy. We need hardened protections for campuses and houses of worship, realistic post-release monitoring for convicted terrorists, and a refusal to coddle those who embrace violent ideologies. If our leaders will not act, then voters must demand it at the ballot box.
Pray for the victims, support the first responders, and stand with the families whose lives have been shattered by this week’s violence. Hardworking Americans will not surrender our communities to cowardly killers or to the bureaucrats who failed to stop them. It is time for decisive action to protect our people, our faith institutions, and our future.
