Dozens of anti-Semitic remarks by the man who killed 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue were read at his trial on Monday and Tuesday.
Robert Bowers, 50, has admitted to perpetrating the October 27, 2018 attack but is trying to avoid the death penalty at his federal trial.
Defense attorneys argued that Bowers was not specifically motivated by hatred of the Jewish people when he opened fire in the synagogue where three congregations had gathered for Sabbath service.
But federal prosecutors went after that argument with a sledgehammer, bringing in numerous posts from Bowers on right-wing social media site Gab.
“Jews are the children of Satan,” Bowers wrote in one post. In another post, he shared a photo with the caption, “The only good Jew is a dead Jew.”
Bowers’ report was filled with hatred for various groups, but none were mentioned as often as Jews, investigators said. An FBI agent testified that Bowers posted the word “Jew” 152 times and used an insult to Jews another 87 times, according to local NPR affiliate WESA.
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In other posts, Bowers railed that the Holocaust did not go far enough, although he expressed support for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
On the morning of the shooting, Bowers specifically named the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which helps refugees across the United States, as an enemy.
“HIAS likes to bring in intruders to kill our people,” he wrote. “I can’t watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
Bowers killed eleven people and wounded two others inside the synagogue and then engaged the responding police officers in a firefight outside. Five officers were injured in the exchange of fire and Bowers was shot three times before surrendering.
Bowers is charged with 63 federal felonies, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of religious freedom, resulting in death. The state case against Bowers has been adjourned pending the completion of the federal case.
Despite Attorney General Merrick Garland placing a moratorium on federal executions, US prosecutors have continued to hand down death sentences in some cases.
With NewsWire Services
www.nydailynews.com
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooter-social-media-20230613-grveukra6ze27muzkjewajmfci-story.html
