Attack in Pittsburgh: Trial begins for author of America’s worst anti-Semitic attack

Proceedings will begin only after a jury is selected to try Robert Bowers, 50, on 63 counts in Pennsylvania (Northeastern) federal court.

The white driver, who pleaded not guilty, was charged with the murders, aggravated by the merits of anti-Semitism. Before that, he posted racist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant messages on a far-right social network.

Then-President Republican Donald Trump publicly called for the death penalty for Robert Bowers, which was followed by the Justice Department and confirmed after the election of Democratic President Joe Biden.

Three years after Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to abolish the death penalty nationally, the trial will reignite debate over the death penalty, which is still practiced in many US states.

“Hatred” of the Jews

In early 2019, a Pittsburgh federal prosecutor indicated that he would seek a federal sentence for Robert Bowers, citing his “lack of remorse” and “his hatred and contempt” for Jews.

On October 27, 2018, he entered the “Tree of Life” Synagogue in Pittsburgh armed with three handguns and a semi-automatic assault rifle. He opened fire in the middle of a Shabbat celebration in a historic Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people, including a 97-year-old worshiper, in the bloodiest attack against Jews in the United States.

Israel is the second largest Jewish nation in the world. In 2020, according to the Pew Research Center, there will be 5.8 million Jewish adults in the U.S., religious or not, with an additional 2.8 million adults claiming parentage. Jews.

Juror selection could take weeks, and the trial opens against a backdrop of a surge in racist and anti-Semitic acts in the United States, the highest in 30 years, according to federal police statistics the FBI cited on Monday. “Washington Post”.

Almost 3,700 acts of anti-Semitism

According to the American Anti-Semitic Defamation League, the country recorded 2,717 acts of anti-Semitism (assaults, verbal attacks, property damage, etc.) in 2021, a 34% increase. A year.. In 2022, according to the “Washington Post”, the association calculated 3,697 anti-Semitic acts (+36%), which is unheard of since 1979.

Last year, according to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of America’s oldest Jewish advocacy organizations — “39% of American Jews change their behavior because of fear of experiencing anti-Semitism. Identity,” while “24% have reported being the target of anti-Semitism.”

US federal officials have prioritized the fight against anti-Semitism. Doug Emhoff, the husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and a Jew, called in December to fight the “epidemic of hate” in America.

In November, the FBI issued warnings about threats to synagogues in the state of New Jersey, near New York, and in January 2022, a Briton held four people hostage in a Texas synagogue before being killed in an attack by police. In Pittsburgh, April 2019, a teenager shot and killed a woman and injured three others at a California synagogue in what he claimed was anti-Semitism.

(AFP)