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FBI arrests Michigan man it says was planning attack on East Lansing synagogue
(JTA) — A Michigan man who praised mass shooters had outlined a plan to attack an East Lansing synagogue, according to FBI investigators who arrested the man on Friday.
Seann Pietila, 19, discussed his plans to stage a mass shooting in private messages on Instagram, according to documents filed last week when he was charged with communicating a threat across state lines.
Pietila was arrested on Friday after FBI officials were alerted to his communications earlier in the week and worked to confirm his real identity. When investigators went to his home, they found multiple unsecured guns as well as tactical gear and “a red and white Nazi flag,” according to charging documents filed on Friday. A search of his phone revealed a note with the name of Congregation Shaarey Zedek along with a date — March 15, 2024 — and a list of supplies, including guns and pipe bombs.
Pietila told investigators that he did not plan to carry out the attack, which he said he had originally set for this year, and that he planned to kill himself. He lived in East Lansing until recently.
The arrest came a day after a Pittsburgh jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of the man who murdered 11 Jews in their synagogue there in 2018.
Shabbat services went on as planned at Shaarey Zedek, a Reform synagogue with about 220 families. “I think people are relieved to know that this person is in custody,” Rabbi Amy Bigman told the Lansing State Journal. “I’m sure that some people are nervous and might not come to the synagogue, which is understandable. … It’s stressful, there’s no doubt about that. And it’s scary to live in this world where antisemitism has been on the rise for so long.”
Pietila’s arrest is the latest in a string of arrests in Michigan of people engaged in extremist and antisemitic activity. In March, the FBI arrested a man it said had plotted to kill Jewish officials in the state. Last December, meanwhile, a man was arrested after harassing synagogue-goers in a suburb of Detroit.
It also adds to a string of arrests in cases where officials say they have apprehended potential synagogue attackers. Last November, the FBI arrested a New Jersey teenager who they said was responsible for a vague threat communicated online that resulted in Jewish institutions across the state briefly shutting down. Later that month, two men were arrested in New York City after a Jewish security agency flagged their posts online and alerted authorities.
The charging documents in Pietila’s case indicate an extensive and rapid effort to identify the source of the social media posts, which included chats with an online acquaintance musing about thwarted romantic interests and efforts to find a job. In the posts, Pietila expresses admiration for the shooter who killed 10 Black shoppers in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022, as well as for the man who massacred 51 Muslims in two mosques in New Zealand in 2019. He also makes extensive antisemitic comments and indicates that he has started to amass the supplies that would be needed to carry out an attack.
The text message exchanges also shed light on complicated role of technology companies seeking to address hate on their platforms. The FBI indicates that both Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Discord, a secure messaging platform, cooperated with its requests for information about the accounts that shared the threatening content.
But at the same time, Pietila’s conversations show how the platforms allow for the spread of hateful material. At one point, the person he is messaging with says this to explain how he plans to stream his own planned attack: “probably going to use discord as we used a camera to share the mosque and we didn’t get banned for days.” It was a reference to the 2019 New Zealand shooting, which was streamed live online and has inspired multiple mass shooters, including the man who attacked a Poway, California, synagogue a month later.
Pietila responded: “I honestly didn’t know b.t [the shooter’s initials] attacked more than one. Seriously though, F—ing kikes ruin everything they touch. I’d probably do it on discord for people, so they could screen record and send it to others or post it online.”
The FBI’s charging documents show that Pietila was identified in part because of pictures of himself with a cat that were posted on multiple social media platforms.
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The post FBI arrests Michigan man it says was planning attack on East Lansing synagogue appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hezbollah Says Ceasefire ‘Meaningless’ as Fighting Continues in South
Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in a village in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army operates in it as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ayal Margolin
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said a US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.
US President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared “buffer zone.”
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said “it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire” and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
“Every Israeli attack… gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response,” he added.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement, and has strongly objected to Lebanon’s face-to-face contacts with Israel.
BUFFER ZONE
The April 16 agreement does not require Israeli troops to withdraw from the belt of southern Lebanon seized during the war. The zone extends 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) into Lebanon.
Israel says the buffer zone aims to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese health ministry says.
ISRAELI MILITARY WARNS RESIDENTS TO LEAVE TOWN
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike killed two people in the southern village of Touline on Friday.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, the group and the Israeli military said. Hezbollah identified it as a Hermes 450 and said it had downed it with a surface-to-air missile.
An Israeli drone was heard circling above Beirut throughout the day on Friday, Reuters reporters said.
The Israeli military warned residents of the southern town of Deir Aames to leave their homes immediately, saying it planned to act against “Hezbollah activities” there.
Deir Aames is located north of the area occupied by Israeli forces, and it was the first time Israel had issued such a warning since the ceasefire came into force on April 16. Posted on social media, the Israeli warning gave no details of the activities it said Hezbollah was conducting in the town.
The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a drone prior to its crossing into Israeli territory, and that sirens were sounded in line with protocol.
WAR-WEARY RESIDENTS SEEK END TO FIGHTING
The continued fighting has angered war-weary Lebanese, who say they want to see a genuine ceasefire put a full halt to violence.
“What’s this? Is this called a ceasefire? Or is this mocking (people’s) intelligence?” said Naem Saleh, a 73-year-old owner of a newsstand in Beirut.
Residents of northern Israel had mostly returned to daily life, but expressed pessimism about the longevity of the ceasefire with Lebanon.
“I believe that the ceasefire is so fragile, and unfortunately it won’t stand long, in my opinion,” said Eliad Eini, a resident of Nahariya, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the south, including a journalist.
Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, in his opening remarks at Thursday’s talks, said “Lebanon should acknowledge the temporary presence of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the right of Israel to defend itself from a hostile force that is firing on the population.”
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United States Nada Moawad, in a written statement sent to Reuters, called for the ceasefire to be fully respected and said it would allow the necessary conditions for meaningful negotiations.
Lebanon has said it aims to secure the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory in broader talks with Israel at a later stage.
Trump said on Thursday that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, and said there was “a great chance” the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year.
Hezbollah attacks killed two civilians in Israel after March 2, while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since then, Israel says.
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Only Five Ships Pass Through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, Friday shipping data showed, after Iran seized two container ships this week and the US continues to blockade Iranian ports.
Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.
“For most shipping companies, they will need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the Strait of Hormuz is safe to transit,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association BIMCO.
“In the meantime, shipping will be restricted to using routes close to Iran and Oman. Due to their confined nature, these routes cannot safely accommodate the normal volumes of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Larsen added.
The Iranian-flagged oil products tanker Niki, which is subject to US sanctions, was among the few vessels that sailed out of the strait with no destination listed, Kpler analysis and tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.
It was unclear what would happen if it continued to sail further east towards the blockade line imposed by the US Navy.
Nearly two months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming.
Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Friday that one of its ships has crossed the strait but did not provide any information on the circumstances or timing.
The Comoros-flagged supertanker Helga arrived at an offshore oil loading terminal in Iraq’s southern Basra port on Friday, the second vessel to reach Iraq since the strait’s closure.
Iran’s use of a swarm of small, fast boats to seize two container ships near the strait on Wednesday has heightened concerns among many shipping and oil companies.
“The latest seizures make clear, even an ‘open’ Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz for seafarers, ships and cargo,” Peter Sand, chief analyst with ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta, said in a note.
Between April 22 and early April 23, seven vessels transited the strait, six of which were involved in Iran-related trade, analysis from Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed.
The closure of the strait has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and triggered a global energy crisis.
Hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers remained stranded inside the Gulf with war risk insurers and oil companies watching for any sign that the risks may have eased so they can prepare to sail through.
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11-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Wounds from Iranian Missile Strike
A photo of Nesya Karadi. Photo: courtesy of her family.
i24 News – An 11-year-old girl has died nearly three weeks after being critically injured by an Iranian missile strike on her family home.
Nesya Karadi passed away Friday at Sheba Medical Center, becoming the 21st civilian fatality in Israel since the current conflict began on February 28.
The attack occurred on April 1, just hours before the start of Passover. Officials confirmed the strike involved an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead; a sub-munition directly hit the Karadi home, wounding 14 people.
Among the injured was Nesya’s father, a volunteer with the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In a final act of heroism before losing consciousness from his own injuries, he reportedly administered life-saving first aid to his daughter.
Hanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, expressed the city’s deep grief over the loss of a “pure child whose whole life was ahead of her,” pledging the municipality’s full support to the Karadi family during their ordeal