Last night, I wrote the blog post that I was going to publish this morning, but as a result of the shootings last evening outside of the Capital Jewish Museum, I am going to hold off on that one (I will use it either tomorrow or never) and post something different.

As you probably by now know, yesterday at the very civilized hour of 9 p.m., as a program for young professionals and young diplomats sponsored by the American Jewish Community was ending at the Museum, a man who had apparently been pacing back and forth in front of the museum approached a group of four individuals and shot and killed two of them, one Israeli and one American, both Israeli embassy employees, and a couple planning on getting married. A major tragedy, to be sure.

The shooter has been identified as a 30 year old man from Chicago, who was apparently involved in left wing activity and who, after killing the two embassy personnel, entered the Museum, shouting “Free Palestine, free Palestine”. He was quickly arrested and it appears offered no resistance.

For those who don’t know the museum, it moved to its current location two or three years ago. It’s in a rather placid part of the downtown area of DC, near to, but away from, the hustle and bustle, especially at night. When there are night time activities at the Museum, my guess is that most people find street parking, and that when you leave the building and walk to your car, or to the nearest Metro stop, you do not feel any danger.

I will say one other thing. The last time Edie and I went to the Capital Jewish Museum to see their exhibition on delicatessens, it was a Sunday afternoon and we parked a few blocks away. We walked into the lobby, which is glassed in, and relatively unprotected. There was a single young woman sitting at the reception desk and, if there was a security guard, he was not very noticeable. In fact, I remember remarking to Edie as we left something like “I am surprised they don’t have better security here. I think anyone could just walk in.”

Truth is, I don’t know what type of security they provided. I assume there are cameras all over, and maybe there is a security guard and he had just stepped away when we were there, but it certainly was not overwhelming. No metal detectors or anything like that. But, as I said, the neighborhood is rather quiet, and maybe there was a feeling that whatever security they had was enough. I don’t know. And, although I know a number of people deeply involved with the museum, I never did ask the question.

I am not sure that any level of security might have stopped last night’s killings. I don’t know what level was present. If someone was pacing back and forth in front of the museum (as I have read), perhaps that person should have been confronted. I do not know.

In addition to grieving, the natural reaction (you already hear it) is that security must be increased everywhere where Jews are likely to congregate. And perhaps that is a correct response, particularly if it turns out that there are attempts at copy-cat attacks elsewhere. But in Washington DC, with its visible array of institutions and organizations, and where an estimated 300,000 Jews live, you may not ever be able to achieve the type of security that some would want. And, of course, the more security you have, the more attention you call to yourselves, and the less pleasant life can be.

We don’t know enough about this particular attack to know why it occurred, except that the shooter wanted to make a point about the war in Gaza. We don’t know, for example, if he knew that he was shooting Israeli embassy personnel, or he was just looking to shoot some people leaving the Museum, or leaving that particular event. We don’t even know if he knew that the two that he shot were Jewish (the event was not limited to Jews).

And – and I want to emphasize this – we don’t know if the shooter was anti-Israel, anti-Israeli policies in Gaza and other neighboring Palestinian lands, or antisemitic. We don’t know if he was making a political statement, or a broader cultural statement. We don’t know what he thinks generally about Jews. Does he equate all Jews with Israel or Israeli policy? He obviously has grievances against Israel, but does he have grievances against all Jews because of his perceptions of what Israel is, what Israel has done, or what Israel is doing now?

I know I repeat myself too much on this topic, but both the Israeli establishment and the opposing Palestinian leadership and supporters want to conflate Israel and Jews. Israel is now officially “the Jewish State”, and Palestinians throw the words “Jews” and “Israelis” around as if they refer to the same thing. In order to try to establish a universally accepted definition of antisemitism, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has developed a definition which provides examples of antisemitic actions or statements which include certain types of attacks against Israelis, Israel or Israeli policies. While there have been objections to this definition (especially among progressive Jewish groups that are adamantly against an array of Israeli policies), the definition has taken old in many places and been adopted by many governments and international organizations. I find the conflation dangerous.

I said this when the attack on the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue occurred seven years ago, and when attacks occurred at other synagogues. There will be such attacks, it appears, from time to time, and certainly security concerns are very important, but they are not a sign that everything is falling apart and that it is dangerous for Jews or Jewish institutions to live their normal lives. Overreaction can be as bad as under reaction.

An example? A young Jewish man shoots a Nazi official in Paris. An isolated incident. The result? Kristallnacht and then the Final Solution. Another? The heir to the Austrian throne is shot in Sarajevo. The result? World War I.

Each of these events were isolated events, even though they were based on much broader social tensions. Neither of them were Pearl Harbor. Yet, like Pearl Harbor, they led to unbelievable tragedy.

Yes, the death of two members of the staff of the Israeli embassy, probably extraordinary nice and talented young adults, with families and ambitions and promise, is terribly tragic. Just like the deaths of 1200+ Israelis living in left wing kibbutzim and attending a Negev music festival were terribly tragic. And, yes, so are the deaths of 50,000+ residents of Gaza, more than two of whom were as young, as nice, as talented, etc., as the two shot in Washington last night.

How to end? The human condition? The war must stop? All of that, and more. But until the underlying problems are solved, if they ever can be, we must work to avoid tragedies such as this but, at the same time, understand that, from time to time, they will happen.