Washington, DC – In response to yesterday’s attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami issued the following statement:
“Our hearts are with the community of Temple Israel. Synagogues are homes of Jewish life – places where children learn, families gather and Jews come together to worship. We condemn this antisemitic attack in the strongest possible terms and are deeply grateful to the security staff who acted so bravely and quickly to prevent this from becoming an even greater tragedy.
According to reports, the perpetrator of this attack was an American citizen whose family members were recently killed in the ongoing war in the Middle East. We must be crystal clear: Blaming or targeting American Jews for the actions of the Israeli government is antisemitism – full stop.
We mourn all innocent civilians who have been killed in this war – Israelis, Iranians, Lebanese and others across the region – and we also hold in our hearts the American service members who have lost their lives in this conflict.
There can be no justification, excuse or contextualization for attacking, vandalizing or targeting in any other way a synagogue. Such violence is antisemitism, plain and simple.”