If we go down the road of allowing blame of Israel to serve as excuses for antisemitic violence, then we are saying that some forms of violence and hate, in some political contexts or conflicts, are more justified or understandable than others. Is violence targeting Americans, either abroad or at home, acceptable because the U.S. military is engaged in war in Iran? Is targeting Russian Americans because of the war in Ukraine acceptable? Of course not, and we’re all more vulnerable to such violence if we try to explain away antisemitic violence related to Israel. Many U.S. political figures, Democrats and Republicans alike, condemned the attack on Temple Israel. What now must occur is an unequivocal condemnation of antisemitism in all its forms, including when Israel is used as a justification or excuse for one’s actions or views. Violence is never justified, and we excuse, justify or contextualize it away at our own peril. Jewish Americans today are all as vulnerable as those 140 children at Temple Israel, even more so if we fail to see their attempted murder as anything other than an unconscionable form of hate, irrespective of the political context in which it emerged.