The attack on a synagogue in Bloomfield. Michigan last week should disturb anyone who believes in basic moral clarity.

According to reports, the suspect who targeted the synagogue told investigators he had lost relatives in Lebanon during Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. His grief and anger, he said, drove him to attack a Jewish house of worship thousands of miles away.

That leap, from anger at Israeli military actions to violence against Jews in the diaspora, is precisely where legitimate political grievance turns into antisemitism.

Because the premise behind the attack rests on a false and dangerous assumption: that Jews everywhere are responsible for the actions of the State of Israel.

The Ancient Logic of Collective Blame

For centuries, Jews have lived with a recurring accusation. Whenever something happens somewhere involving Jews, all Jews are held accountable.

In medieval Europe Jews were blamed for plagues. In the twentieth century Jews were blamed for capitalism and communism simultaneously. Today Jews are blamed for the decisions of the Israeli government.

The structure of the accusation has not changed. Only the language has.

When someone attacks a synagogue because of Israeli policy, the logic is simple: Jews are interchangeable representatives of Israel.

But this is not how the world works.

There are nearly sixteen million Jews globally. Roughly half live in Israel. The rest live in countries across North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia, and elsewhere. They hold diverse political views, vote in different elections, and debate Israeli policy just as Americans debate U.S. policy.

Many Jews support Israeli government actions. Many oppose them. Many feel deeply conflicted.

What they share is not political unanimity but a religious and cultural identity.

To treat every Jew as an extension of the Israeli state is to erase that distinction entirely.

And that erasure is antisemitism.

The Neuroscience of Simplistic Blame

Human beings have a psychological tendency to simplify complex realities.

In moments of grief or anger, the brain looks for clear targets. The amygdala, the brain’s threat detection center, pushes us toward quick conclusions about who is responsible.

When the situation is emotionally charged, nuance disappears.

The result is what psychologists call outgroup homogenization. People begin to see members of a group as indistinguishable from one another.

“All of them are the same.”

History shows where that kind of thinking leads.

When anger about geopolitical events becomes permission to attack Jewish schools, synagogues, or businesses, something deeper than political protest is taking place.

It is the ancient reflex of collective blame.

Synagogues Are Not Embassies

Just to be clear, a synagogue is not an embassy of Israel.

It is a place where people pray, celebrate births and weddings, mourn the dead, and teach children the stories of their tradition.

To attack a synagogue because of Israeli military action is no different from attacking a mosque because of the actions of Iran or bombing a church because of the policies of Italy.

No one would accept such logic in those cases.

Yet when the target is Jewish, some people look away or search for explanations.

We should resist that impulse.

Violence against Jews because of Israeli policy is not activism. It is antisemitism.

Protecting Jewish Communities Requires Action

Condemnation alone is not enough. Preventing attacks requires concrete steps from governments, communities, and civil society.

First, security for Jewish institutions must be taken seriously. Synagogues, schools, and community centers should have access to security funding, trained personnel, and coordination with local law enforcement. Many already do, but the level of threat demands sustained commitment.

Second, public leaders must speak clearly and consistently. When violence against Jews occurs, the response should not be hedged with geopolitical qualifiers. Attacking civilians because of their identity is unacceptable, regardless of the political context.

Third, education about antisemitism needs to include the modern form of collective blame tied to Israel. Students should learn that criticism of Israeli policies is legitimate in any democratic society. But holding Jews worldwide responsible for those policies crosses the line into prejudice.

Fourth, Jewish communities themselves must continue building relationships with neighbors of all backgrounds. Personal familiarity disrupts stereotypes. It is harder to dehumanize people you actually know.

Finally, media and public discourse must resist narratives that blur distinctions between Jews, Israelis, and the Israeli government. Precision in language matters. When those categories collapse into one another, the door opens for exactly the kind of violence we are now witnessing.

The Work of Moral Clarity

The tragedy in Bloomfield began with grief. A man mourning relatives killed in a distant conflict sought someone to blame.

But grief does not justify hatred.

And political anger does not justify violence against innocent people who share neither the power nor the responsibility for the decisions being protested.

Jews around the world are not proxies for Israel.

They are citizens of their own countries, members of their own communities, and human beings deserving of the same safety and dignity as anyone else.

If we cannot defend that basic distinction, then we have learned very little from history.

And history has already taught us what happens when the world forgets it.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)