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Amy B Wang
Generalist journalist covering national and last-minute news
PITTSBURGH – At the end of a weekend that redefined the concepts of religious hatred in the United States, a distressed rabbi, Jeffrey Myers, directly linked the Saturday massacre in his synagogue "Tree of Life" to rhetoric of American politicians.
"It all starts with the speech, "said Myers to applause during a vigil organized on Sunday night attended by two US senators. "It must begin with you as our leaders. My words are not meant to serve as political fodder. I am addressing everyone equally. Stop the hate words. "
Two hours after the rabbi's speech, President Trump was released from all responsibility and again blamed other leaders for the nation's problems.
"Fake News is doing everything in its power to blame the Republicans, the Conservatives and myself for the long-standing division and hatred in our country," Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday night "In fact, it's their fake and dishonest reports that cause much more serious problems than they understand!"
That put an end to the weekend that marked the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.
Monday, Monday, is expected to be the first court appearance of the alleged armed man Robert Bowers – an alleged anti-Semite who faces more than 50 charges of homicide, assault and hate crimes in the massacre.
[The lives lost in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting]
The rest of the week will be marked by funerals for the eleven people killed in Tree of Life and a much more heated debate over whether the aggressive political rhetoric that defined Trump's presidency played a role in radicalization. of the shooter.
Robert Bowers, "onedingo" and Trump
At the center of everything is Bowers: a 46-year-old truck driver with few apparent friends and who left no impression on the neighbors near his small apartment located just outside of Pittsburgh, that the investigators completed their search on Sunday.
A police source told the Washington Post on Monday that the investigators had found three handguns and two rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition after executing a search warrant at the residence. In addition to at least four weapons recovered at the synagogue.
"We would have a modest conversation, but he just seemed to be a normal guy, and that's the scariest part," Bowers' neighbor Kerri Owens told The Post.
Bowers seems to have led another life under the online pseudonym "onedingo", published on an uncensored social media platform called Gab, which is an online haven for extremists.
By signing his messages on behalf of Bowers, Onedingo compared the Jews to Satan and complained that Trump's "Restoring All of America's Splendor" movement can not succeed as long as Jews "infest" the country. . He also published insulting remarks about women who have sex with black men, repeatedly mentioned flowing knots and hangings, and used the word n nearly 20 times.
The White House press secretary called Bowers "a coward who hated President Trump because @POTUS is an unscrupulous advocate of the Jewish community and the state of Israel. Gab's publications suggest a greater sense of disillusionment with the president, whose daughter has converted to Judaism, but who is often accused of stirring up anger, hatred and even violence. violence. Semitism in its political rhetoric.
In February, Onedingo released a memo of a Monopoly Chance card with overlapping images of Trump driving Hillary Clinton into prison.
In May, he wrote that he had "not voted for Trump, nor possessed, nor ever wore a maga hat".
In October, as Trump repeatedly tweeted about a caravan of refugees and migrants heading for Central America to the US border, Onedingo started complaining about a Jewish group's efforts to organize Shabbat dinners for refugees.
The group "likes to bring in invaders who kill our people," he wrote a few hours before the Pittsburgh massacre. "I can not stand by and watch my people being slaughtered. Screw your optics, I go in. "
The attack, the deadliest in US history, targeted a synagogue, an anchor of the great Jewish community of Pittsburgh, about a 25-minute drive from Bowers home. Police and FBI investigators said that Bowers had entered his AR-15 rifle and three Glock pistols during the Saturday morning ceremony and that he had spent about 10 minutes slaughtering all the faithful that were not there. he had met.
Myers, the rabbi, said on the eve of Sunday that he prays with a dozen faithful from the first hour when the shooter appeared at the door.
"I ran across the back of the sanctuary, up the stairs," he told a NBC reporter after. "I went up to the attic of the choir. I heard him perform my faithful. I did not look. I could not watch it. "
Police sued Bowers in a third-floor shooting of the synagogue. According to a complaint filed by the federal government, when they captured it, the quiet man who had left no impression on his neighbors was unleashed as an idol online.
"They are committing genocide against my people," Bowers reportedly told the police. "I just want to kill Jews."
Hate speech
On Saturday, Trump said the massacre was a "devilish anti-Semitic attack" and "an assault on humanity". But he spoke little about Bowers and showed little interest in joining a national debate on whether the hostile political climate of the country or not. the regulation of firearms allowed to allow the attack.
Trump suggested Saturday that the synagogue should have had armed guards – as he did after other mass shootings. Then he tweeted about a baseball game, described one of his political rivals as "crazy and crazy stumper,"And on Monday, he fanned again the fears about the caravan of migrants, the appellant"an invasion of our country. "
In the meantime, the president assured his supporters that the "great anger in our country" was the fault of "The Fake News Media, the true enemy of the people. "
[An attack on a tight-knit Jewish community has left it shellshocked]
Democrats said Sunday that Trump's incendiary attacks on his rivals had created fertile ground for those who were prone to extremism.
Just like Abraham Foxman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League, which has recorded a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017 – the first year of Trump's presidency.
"Trumpism legitimized the bigots out of the sewers and gave them a platform for gambling," Foxman told The Jerusalem Post. "He said what should be done against anti-Semitism this week, but he must change the discourse he uses to explain his policy, which gives millions of bigots a justification for their fanaticism. . "
Since the shooting, more than 25,000 people have signed an open letter to Trump in support of 11 Jewish leaders who said the president would not be welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounced nationalism. White.
Pittsburgh City Councilor Erika Strassburger, whose district includes the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, attended the Sunday evening vigil and said that she felt not only overwhelming grief, but also weariness and, in some cases, desire to turn anger into action.
"It was a more general frustration of," When will this odious rhetoric stop? "And [our discourse] seems to be even more inflamed by the elected leaders, "she said, without naming anyone in particular. "When will hatred end? When can we come together as a country? "
The White House has not responded to a request for comment on the letter.
At a television appearance Monday morning, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway responded to another request from the president to stay away from Pittsburgh from Lynette Lederman, former president. from the Synagogue of the Tree of Life, who stated that she considered Trump as a "hate speech." "
"I know she is very saddened by grief, and my deepest condolences go out to her and to all members of this congregation, regardless of politics," Conway told CNN. "Many people want the president to go and help heal."
Funeral and court
Bowers was reportedly released from hospital on Monday after being shot by police before being captured. He is scheduled to appear in federal court before trial judge Robert C. Mitchell at 1:30 pm Monday.
It faces at least 23 heads of state, including homicides, attempted homicides and aggravated assaults on police officers. He faces 29 other federal charges accusing him of civil rights and hate crimes.
Pennsylvania federal prosecutors have begun the process of applying for the death penalty for Bowers, said Sunday a spokesman for the Department of Justice. The process is usually lengthy and involves information from relatives of victims before the final decision is made by the Attorney General.
The funeral of the 11 victims should also begin this week, but it is unclear whether the criminal investigation will delay them.
The victims included a 97-year-old woman, a husband and wife, and two brothers.
Selk, Wang, Boburg and Tran have been reported from Washington. Kayla Epstein in Pittsburgh and Sari Horwitz, John Wagner, Annie Gowen, Mark Berman, Wesley Lowery, Matt Zapotosky, Julie Tate and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to the writing of this report.
Read more:
"I looked up and all these corpses were found": a witness tells the horror of the synagogue massacre
Trump says he'll be going to Pittsburgh after a murderous shootout in the synagogue
How Gab became a sanctuary of white supremacy before being linked to the Pittsburgh suspect
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