It is hard to avoid talking about the two horrific events of yesterday. The attack at Brown University in Providence and the attack on Bondi Beach at the Hanukkah celebration in Sydney. It is interesting that both of these places have very tough gun laws, and that both have had very low numbers of gun homicides. It just shows you that you can’t protect against everything, no matter how hard you try to.

Hopefully, they have captured the right guy in Providence; he is unidentified as I write this. And, it appears that they have killed one and injured the other of two shooters (hopefully, the only two) in Sydney. We have no idea of the motive behind the shootings in the physics building at Brown while final exams were going on, but in Sydney it would appear that the attacks were Israel related.

Why do I say that? I say that because I read earlier that the Hanukkah candle lighting at Bondi Beach, sponsored by a local Chabad center, was billed as a celebration for Israelis living in Sydney. Not that others, Jew or Gentile, weren’t invited, but the Israelis were the target of the organizers and turned out to be, I would assume, the target of the attackers. Of course, even so, this event so far has been billed as antisemitic, not anti-Israel (at least from what I have seen) and it again brings up the relationship between the two. While it would probably be impossible to say that the shooters hated Israel but were indifferent to Jews, it is possible to think that, but for the Israeli actions in Gaza, this attack would not have occurred.

It will take a long time, as we know, for the strong feelings against Israel (for many, you can’t separate Israel from “Israel’s current government”) to subside. It will take even longer than it otherwise might if Israel continues on the course it is on – attacks on Hamas members in Gaza where collateral killings and damage is inevitable, delays in letting needed aid or needed rebuilding material into the area, attacks in Syria and Lebanon on Hezbollah targets,  increasing attacks by settlers, sometimes aided by IDF or security troops, in the West Bank and increased Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

As I have suggested before, all of this may, on the part of Israeli leadership or Israelis in general, be well thought out: Now is the time they can succeed because they have overwhelmingly superior force, and public opinion be damned, now is the time that they are going to take steps that might be very unpopular but, if successful, may create an Israel with truly secure boundaries once and for all. If they fail, Israel as an independent state may fail. If they succeed, irrespective of how they are seen or judged today, the current crop of Israeli leaders will, by future generations, be deemed heroes.

But all of this turmoil is not without spillover effects. And those spillover effects will include an increasing amount of anti-Israel feeling and anti-Israel actions around the world among many individuals, some or most of whom will not be able to parse the difference between Israelis and Jews. And there will be continuing random attacks on synagogues and Jewish events with killing and maiming, along with property damage, occurring each time.

While it is impossible to stop this, and difficult to figure out where it might appear next, it is worth noting that the State of Israel’s insistence that it be recognized as a “Jewish State” and maintaining that it is the State of the Jews, wherever they live and whether or not they have ever even traveled to Israel, along with the existence of a large Israeli diaspora around the world, adds to the problem. So does the position taken by many Jewish organizations which, regardless of their basic raison d’etre, have taken on the defense of Israel and Israelis as central to their mission, and the continuing displaying of Israeli flags inside synagogue sanctuaries and “we stand with Israel” signs on synagogue lawns. It may be impossible to change any of this, but it should all come with the recognition that it does increase the dangers that Jews find themselves in wherever they may be.

In the meantime, our thoughts, prayers and sympathies go out to the families of those killed, injured, or otherwise affected by all of these sad events, whether they be related to Israel and Jews, as is the case in Sydney, or not, as presumably is the case in Providence.

With regard to attacks on universities, like Brown, or other types of schools, better security is probably the best answer we have. It is my understanding that the building at Brown where the attacks occurred was unlocked. When I was going to universities, no one thought that buildings should be locked. But it appears that today, they need to be, just as there need to be more cameras and recording devices, more metal detectors, and more personnel trained in security.

As you might guess, this is not what I was planning to write about this morning. I was going to write about slavery. Maybe tomorrow. I have some thoughts about that (broad thoughts), too.