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PITTSBURGH (REUTERS) – Grieving families and friends gathered on Tuesday (Oct 30) for the first funerals for victims of a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, as protesters prepared for a visit by US President Donald Trump amid accusations his rhetoric had encouraged anti-Semitic extremists.
A joint funeral was set for David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59, two brothers who were among the 11 mostly elderly congregants shot to death on Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Pennsylvania city’s Squirrel Hill section.
Funerals were also being held for Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, and Daniel Stein, 71.
Robert Bowers is accused of storming into the synagogue yelling “All Jews must die” and opening fire on members of three congregations holding Sabbath prayer services there.
A federal judge on Monday ordered Bowers, 46, held without bail.
The attack, which the Anti-Defamation League described as the deadliest targeting Jews in the United States, has heightened a national debate over Trump’s rhetoric, which his critics say has contributed to a surge in white nationalist and new-Nazi activity.
The Trump administration has rejected the notion that he has encouraged far-right extremists who have embraced him.
The Republican president said he would visit hospitalised police officers and other people wounded in the shooting.
“I’m just going to pay my respects,” Trump told Fox News on Monday night. “I would have done it even sooner, but I didn’t want to disrupt anymore than they already had disruption.”
The top four US congressional leaders – Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi – declined to join Trump in Pittsburgh, a source familiar with the planning said.
An aide to Ryan said he was not able to travel to Pittsburgh on such short notice.
Trump’s visit comes just a week ahead of elections that will determine the balance of power between the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Congress. The Republicans currently control both the Senate and House.
The ADL, a nonprofit group dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of hate, said last week that far-right extremists had stepped up “online propaganda offensives” in the run-up to the elections to attack and try to intimidate Jews, especially journalists.
‘YOU ARE NOT WELCOME’
Members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community said they would protest against Trump on Tuesday afternoon. In an announcement for a demonstration to be held, organisers said, “President Trump, words have consequences.”
“The gunman who tore apart our neighbourhood believed your lies about the immigrant caravan in Mexico,” the announcement read, referring to a group of migrants who are trekking through Mexico towards the United States. “He believed antisemitic lies that Jews were funding the caravan.”
The announcement also echoed an open letter from a group of local Jewish leaders who told Trump: “You are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.”
More than 43,000 people have signed the letter, organised and posted online by the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend the Arc, a Jewish organisation opposed to what it calls “the immoral agenda of the Trump administration and the Republican Party.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he was also against Trump’s visit because it would coincide with the first funerals.
Peduto, a Democrat, said Trump should wait until all the funerals were held, adding that the visit and additional security measures entailed would distract attention from the”priority” of burying the dead.
On Monday, a US magistrate judge ordered the suspect, Bowers, held without bond. The onetime truck driver, who frequently posted anti-Semitic material online and was described by neighbours as a loner, was charged with 29 federal felony counts. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Prosecutors have said they are treating the mass shooting as a hate crime.
In addition to the 11 worshipers who were killed, six people, including four police officers, were wounded before Bowers was shot by police and surrendered. Two of the surviving victims remained hospitalised in critical condition.
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