The degree of anti-semitism in the United States of America has assumed horrific proportions with the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. The carnage at a synagogue in Pittsburgh has thus been contextualised in a remarkably long span of the anti-Jewish sentiment, and not merely in America. Last Saturday’s outrage was so hideous indeed that Jewish organisations have swiftly expressed horror, which can only be exacerbated in the event of a reprisal anywhere else in the world, chiefly in the Middle East where the cauldron simmers, almost historically.
Small wonder that Israel’s President, Reuven Rivlin, has urged the US to “investigate this horrific event thoroughly and that justice is served on the despicable murderer.” Donald Trump’s statement that “it should not have happened” is a feeble response to an ugly truth as the US lunges from one domestic tremor to another, both political and religious. He could have spared the Jews the very obvious knowledge that the temple of worship deserved tighter protection.
Of which there was little or none not the least because what the Anti-Defamation League calls the deadliest attack on Jews in American history occurred during the Shabbat service ~ an anti-religion aberration that has deepened the enormity of the tragedy. The task of the League is to monitor anti-semitism which has now convulsed the fountain-head of the libertarian ethic and inclusive culture. Both are at a discount a week ahead of the crucial midterm elections (November 6). To step up the vigil across synagogues across the US is only to be wise after the worst has been perpetrated. Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue showcases the worst in religious and ethnic tolerance.
The names of the eleven casualties were released on Sunday. As it turns out, Robert Bowers, a Pittsburgh resident, has been charged with 29 offences, including obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in deaths, 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder, weapons offences and seriously injuring police officers. Bowers had posted anti-semitic comments and material on social media, prompting the FBI to investigate the shooting as a federal hate crime. It has been a mortal cocktail of America’s gun culture ~ which defies a solution ~ and the aversion to a religious faith.
The carnage has caused a flutter in the international roost, with the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, António Guterres, condemning the shooting as “a painful reminder of continuing anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is a menace to democratic values and peace, and should have no place in the 21st century”. The World Jewish Congress has put it succinctly ~ “This was an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole.” In point of fact, racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hatred, bigotry, discrimination and xenophobia are the direly distressing features of contemporary social history the world over.