President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris issued statements Sunday commemorating the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which claimed 11 Jewish lives in what remains the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, JNS reported.

The 2018 attack occurred at 10:30 a.m. during Shabbat morning services when an armed assailant killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others, including responding law enforcement officers. Harris described how "a white supremacist used a weapon of war to murder 11 precious souls and wound many more at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood," calling it an "unspeakable act – fueled by antisemitic hate."

Today marks 6 years since the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, where a gunman opened fire on the congregation during Shabbat morning services and killed 11 people.

Last week, someone stole the synagogue's memorial plaque for the victims in an act of hate.

Tree of Life's Rabbi… pic.twitter.com/3beM7tgMDu

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 27, 2024

 According to the White House release, she emphasized her longstanding commitment to fighting antisemitism, stating, "This work is not new for me. I have spent my entire career fighting antisemitism." Harris continued, "Since the beginning of our administration, we have secured record funding for the physical security of nonprofits and faith-based institutions around the country, including synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and Jewish day schools." She highlighted the groundbreaking this summer of "the nation's first museum and education center on the history of antisemitism in America" at the synagogue site.

"It shattered families, pierced the heart of the Jewish community, and struck the soul of our nation," Biden said in his statement. The president noted that this year's anniversary falls close to the first anniversary of the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel. He emphasized that the trauma from both events is "not only raw but exacerbated by the appalling surge of antisemitism against Jews in America and around the world."

On combatting antisemitism, Biden quoted the Talmudic saying "It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it." Both leaders outlined their administration's efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses and enhance gun control measures.

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It took jurors five hours to come to their conclusion: The man accused of murdering 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, is guilty on all counts.

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Robert Bowers, 46 at the time of the mass shooting, has now been convicted on 63 charges, including 11 capital counts each of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death and of using a firearm to commit murder; and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

Video: Reuters

"I am grateful to God for getting us to this day. And I am thankful for the law enforcement who ran into danger to rescue me and the US attorney who stood up in the court to defend my right to pray," said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the attack, following the verdict.

"Today, I'm focused on being with my congregation and praying, singing and clapping in praise of God as we do each Shabbat. In the face of the horror our community has experienced, I can think of no better response than practicing my Jewish faith and leading worship," he added.

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh said it "continues to stand with the families, witnesses and first responder community most directly impacted by the deadly synagogue shooting."

The organization added that the shooting's impact extends far beyond those in the local community and thanked "the citizenry of the greater Pittsburgh region for standing with the Jewish community since October 27, 2018, and supporting our communal efforts towards healing and resiliency."

The American Jewish Committee stated that justice has been served.

"We realize it does little to ease the pain for the families and friends of the 11 people murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh simply for being Jewish and practicing their faith. However, we hope this verdict allows them to continue the slow process of healing if not closure," it stated.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, noted that the attack was the deadliest antisemitic violence in US history.

"The hate and conspiratorial thinking that fueled this violence has not gone away," he stated. "We thank the jurors for their service, and we hope this brings closure to those who lost loved ones five years ago."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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United States President Joe Biden delivered an official White House statement on Wednesday commemorating the three-year anniversary of the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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The synagogue, located in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh, was attacked by a lone gunman who killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others.

"As we mark three years since this heinous attack, we resolve to remember the lives lost and commit to protecting a future worthy of their memories," Biden explained in a White House briefing statement.

He urged Americans to also "stand up and speak out against antisemitism with clarity and conviction."

The Tree of Life Synagogue shooting was the deadliest attack on American Jews in United States history.

"That day and those that followed remind all of us to embrace the better angels of our nature – and to turn pain into purpose," Biden said. "We must recognize in others our shared humanity and strive to summon unexpected faith in unanticipated moments – in the hope that we might heal and rebuild.

"That continues to be the work of my Administration – laying out our country's first-ever comprehensive strategy to address domestic terrorism, signing legislation aimed at strengthening our efforts to counter unlawful acts of hate, taking executive actions to protect houses of worship, and pressing forward with executive and legislative action to reduce all forms of gun violence," the president added.

"May the survivors and the families of the victims hold fast to the teachings of their faith and find comfort in the embrace of their community and their country," he closed.

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The son of a couple killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue attack that killed 11 worshippers is suing the National Rifle Association, arguing the group's inflammatory rhetoric led to the violence.

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Marc Simon, the son of Sylvan and Bernice Simon, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against the NRA, the gun maker Colt's Manufacturing Co., and accused shooter, Robert Bowers, news outlets reported. Colt manufactured the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle allegedly used by Bowers.

A fourth defendant is the unknown business that sold Bowers the gun.

Bowers is charged with killing 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. Police said the former truck driver expressed hatred of Jews during and after the October 2018 rampage."Bowers was not born fearing and hating Jews," the suit claims. "The gun lobby taught him to do that."

Bowers has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The plaintiff argues gun lobbyists like the NRA radicalized people with "mendacious white supremacist conspiracy theories." The lawsuit also says Colt could have prevented the AR-15 from "bump firing," or using a modification that allows the rifle to fire more rapidly.

An NRA spokesperson declined comment on the lawsuit. The group filed for bankruptcy last week, and the claims against them in Simon's lawsuit will be stayed as a result of the group's reorganizing.

Colt did not respond to request for comment. Besides a wrongful death claim, the complaint accuses Colt of product liability and says the gun is more akin to a military-style weapon than a civilian product.

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The Anti-Defamation League also counted at least 50 incidents in which white supremacists are accused of targeting Jewish institutions' property since a gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Those incidents include 12 cases of vandalism involving white supremacist symbols and 35 cases in which white supremacist propaganda was distributed.

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The ADL said its nationwide count of anti-Semitic incidents remains near record levels. It has counted 780 anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of 2019, compared to 785 incidents during the same period in 2018.

The ADL's tally of 12 arrests for white supremacist plots, threats, and attacks against Jewish institutions includes the April 2019 capture of John T. Earnest, who is charged with killing one person and wounding three others in a shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California. The group said many of the cases it counted, including the Poway shooting, were inspired by previous white supremacist attacks. In online posts, Earnest said he was inspired by the deadly attacks in Pittsburgh and on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman killed 51 people in March.

The ADL also counted three additional 2019 cases in which individuals were arrested for targeting Jews but weren't deemed to be white supremacists. Two were motivated by Islamist extremist ideology, the organization said.

The ADL said its Center on Extremism provided "critical intelligence" to law enforcement in at least three of the 12 cases it counted.

Last December, authorities in Monroe, Washington, arrested a white supremacist after the ADL notified law enforcement about suspicions he threatened on Facebook to kill Jews in a synagogue. The ADL said it also helped authorities in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, identify a white supremacist accused of using aliases to post threatening messages, including a digital image of himself pointing an AR-15 rifle at a group of praying Jewish men.

In August, an FBI-led anti-terrorism task force arrested a Las Vegas man accused of plotting to firebomb a synagogue or other targets, including a bar catering to LGTBQ customers and the ADL's Las Vegas office. The ADL said it warned law enforcement officials about the man's online threats.

"We cannot and will not rest easy knowing the threat posed by white supremacists and other extremists against the Jewish community is clear and present," the group's CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement.

The ADL said it counted at least 30 additional incidents in which people with an "unknown ideology" targeted Jewish institutions with acts of arson, vandalism or propaganda distribution that the group deemed to be anti-Semitic or "generally hateful," but not explicitly white supremacist.

"These incidents include the shooting of an elderly man outside a synagogue in Miami, fires set at multiple Jewish institutions in New York and Massachusetts, Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogue windows in Chicago, damaged menorahs in Georgia and New Jersey, as well as a wide range of anti-Semitic graffiti," an ADL report said.

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On Friday, they outlined their vision for the Tree of Life building, where three congregations – Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light – had gathered on Oct. 27, 2018, when a gunman opened fire, killing 11 people and wounding seven.

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The building in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood has not reopened since the shooting, considered the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. Tree of Life leaders now envision a rebuilt space that includes places of worship, memorial, education, and social events, as well as classrooms and exhibitions. The mission: to fight anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination.

"There was never any doubt that we would go back to the site," Tree of Life Executive Director Barb Feige said. "The congregation is a community. It survives without its building, but is committed to going back to that location."

There have been conceptual discussions about the changes to the building, said Tree of Life president Sam Schachner. Some donations have come in that will be used for the project, and the congregation will engage in a vigorous fundraising campaign, he said. No architectural plans have been drawn up, and no construction work has yet taken place.

The building was in need of extensive and costly repairs before the shooting, Feige said. The rebuilding now extends initial plans Tree of Life had to expand cooperation and collaboration among the three congregations and with the community, she said.

Robert Bowers, 47, a truck driver from Baldwin, Pennsylvania, has been charged in the attack. Investigators say Bowers used an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, and that he criticized a Jewish charity on social media before the massacre, claiming the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society "likes to bring invaders that kill our people." Police said Bowers also expressed hatred of Jews during and after the rampage.

Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Bowers' lawyers said this week that the case would be over by now if the prosecutors had accepted his offer to plead guilty in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The government's decision to seek the death penalty disappointed some of the people most affected by the massacre, including members of Dor Hadash. The rabbi of New Light Congregation, which had three members slain in the attack, also expressed his opposition to a death sentence. Tree Of Life has said it is confident justice will be served.

In a statement, Tree of Life said rebuilding plans "reflect resiliency, strength, and community collaboration."

That collaboration likely will include the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh's moving into the building, where neighboring Chatham University also hopes to share space, Feige said.

"We are poised to become an incredible center for Jewish life in the United States," Tree of Life's Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading Shabbat services when the shooting started, said in a statement. "When we reopen, and we most certainly will, I want the entire world to say, 'Wow, look at what they have done.' To do anything less disrespects the memory of our 11 martyrs."

There will be a memorial for the 11 victims, but whether that will be the city's public memorial remains to be determined. Leaders have met with experts on the Holocaust and 9/11 memorials to discuss a public memorial for the Tree of Life shooting and have been advised to take their time, Feige said.

"Regardless where that is located, whether it is our site or not, we will obviously include in our plan a memorial, if not the memorial, to the 11 souls that were lost," she said. She called the eight men and three women killed "stalwarts of the three congregations."

"I think part of our desire is to honor them and their commitment," she added. "Is it sort of 'the bad guys win if we don't go back'? There is a little bit of that."

The next steps include hiring a strategic planning consultant well-versed in the Jewish community and in building collaborative and space-sharing plans.

"It's a bit of a unicorn in the skills set, but hopefully we can find someone who can lead us," she said.

Synagogue leaders will consider the thoughts and ideas about the building's future shared by the victims' family members, witnesses, members from all three congregations, community leaders, and others during several "listening sessions," Tree of Life said in its statement.

The Jewish community and the city will hold a commemoration on Sunday, Oct. 27 – exactly one year after the shooting. Events will include a private Jewish service in the morning, a community service in the city, a gathering to study the Torah portion that was to be read when the shooting took place, and a public memorial service in the evening.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has ordered state flags to fly at half-staff at all state facilities, public buildings, and grounds on that day. He also signed a proclamation declaring Oct. 27 a day of remembrance.

Chuck Diamond, Tree of Life's former rabbi, said returning to the building will not only provide a stand against hatred, but hope for Pittsburgh and other communities affected by mass shootings.

"When people pass by that corner, you can't help but think of what happened and the poor souls who lost their lives. And it's sad," Diamond said. "To rebuild, inspired by those wonderful people and their memories, and by honoring their memories, it sends a positive message to the entire world."

Diamond spent 10 years in the building, which has been the scene of many joyous occasions – weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, parties and baby-naming ceremonies.

"That is what it should be remembered for, all the wonderful things," Diamond said. "The community would like to see it as a center for Jewish life, a symbol that nothing is going to keep us down, like we have been doing for centuries."

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