WarSclerotic

The suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, which left 11 people dead and six injured, is a 46-year-old local man named Robert Bowers who in the past had posted virulent anti-Semitic messages on social media filled with slurs and conspiracy theories, and had threatened Jewish groups.

Two hours before bursting into the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill and opening fire during a Shabbat religious service, Bowers posted on chat site Gab.com about the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a non-profit that once helped Jewish refugees relocate to the United States and now assists asylum seekers.

“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in,” Bowers wrote.

The gunman reportedly screamed anti-Semitic phrases during the shooting, including “All Jews must die.”

Bowers, a Pittsburgh resident, was shot and was in moderate condition at a local hospital, authorities said.

Gab.com said in a statement that when it learned of the shooting suspect’s profile on its site, it took “swift and proactive” action to contact law enforcement immediately.

Gab, which promotes itself as a free-speech alternative to the more heavily policed Twitter and has been a popular gathering space for the alt-right, said it backed up the user data and suspended the account, then told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the data held by the company.

“Gab unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence,” the company said.

Bower has an active firearms license and has made at least six known gun purchases since 1996, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN. He did not have a criminal record and was not known to police, law enforcement officials said on Saturday.

An archive of Bower’s Gab posts since he joined the site in January showed an angry, anti-Semitic man who shared messages such as: “Daily Reminder: Diversity means chasing down the last white person.”

About a month ago he posted pictures showing what appeared to the results of his target practice at a shooting range, and a collection of three handguns that he called his “Glock family.”

Police said the suspect had three handguns and an assault-style rifle at the shooting. It’s unclear whether they were the same handguns as the ones in the photo.

Bowers, who is a registered voter with “no affiliation” in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, took aim in one post at U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing him of being a “globalist” who did nothing to stop the “infestation” of the United States by Jews.

“For the record, I did not vote for him nor have I owned, worn or even touched a MAGA hat,” he wrote. MAGA is an acronym for Make America Great Again that is frequently used by Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “heartbroken and appalled” after a shooter murdered at least 11 people and wounded six others, including four police officers, at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday.

“The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, we stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality, and we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded.”

Video: Reuters

Local authorities and media said a gunman yelling “all Jews must die” stormed the synagogue during Saturday services and fired at worshippers.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett said he would travel to Pittsburgh to offer his support to the Jewish community there. He added that he has instructed his team to provide any assistance that might be required.

“The State of Israel is deeply pained by this terrible anti-Semitic murder,” Bennett said in a statement Saturday. “Our Jewish brothers and sisters came under a murderous attack while at prayer. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed, and we pray for the swift recovery of the injured, as we pray this is the last such event.”

President Reuven Rivlin also extended his condolences, saying “We are thinking of ‘our brothers and sisters, the whole house of Israel, in this time of trouble,’ as we say in the morning prayers. We are thinking of the families of those who were murdered and praying for the quick recovery of those who were injured. I am sure that the law enforcement agencies and the legal authorities in the U.S. will investigate this horrific event thoroughly and that the despicable murderer will be brought to justice.”

The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality projected the flags of both the U.S. and Israel onto its city hall building on Saturday in a show of solidarity with the victims of the shooting attack.

Reuters

U.S. authorities said they planned to bring hate crime and other criminal charges against the murder suspect, 46-year-old Robert Bowers from Pittsburgh, who was arrested at the scene.

The shooting, for which one federal law enforcement official said Bowers used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, prompted security alerts at houses of worship around the country.

Shortly after reports of the shooting emerged, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet he was watching what he described as a “devastating” situation.

Trump also called to bring back the death penalty hours after Bowers stormed the synagogue.

Speaking at a rally in southern Illinois, Trump said those responsible for the shooting in Pittsburgh and other similar crimes should pay the “ultimate price.”

“The world is a violent world,” he said before his speech. “And you think when you’re over it, it just sort of goes away, but then it comes back in the form of a madman, a wacko. … They had a maniac walk in and they didn’t have any protection and that is just so sad to see, so sad to see.”

Trump said lawmakers “should very much bring the death penalty into vogue” and people who kill in places such as synagogues and churches “really should suffer the ultimate price.”

Trump said “the hearts of all Americans are filled with grief, following the monstrous killing.” He also distanced himself from Bowers, who has voiced support for Trump in the past, calling him “sick” and saying “he was no supporter of mine.”

Trump called for solidarity with “our Jewish brothers and sisters,” adding that the U.S. would seek the “destruction” of those looking to harm Jews.

The president made his remarks before Bowers had been formally charged.

U.S. leaders have typically avoided commenting on the legal outcomes they would like to see following a mass shooting, choosing instead to focus on the suffering of the victims.

Before the shooting, Bowers posted many anti-Semitic comments online, including one early on Saturday. In one post, he slammed Trump for doing nothing to stop an “infestation” of the United States by Jews.

Trump told reporters that experiencing such events as president is “a level of terribleness and horror that you can’t even believe. It’s hard to believe.”

The White House said Trump was receiving regular briefings on the attack. He spoke with the governor of Pennsylvania and the mayor of Pittsburgh. He also spoke with his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who are Jewish.

Shortly after returning to Washington late Saturday, Trump ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the country to be flown at half-staff until Oct. 31 in “solemn respect” for the victims.

Earlier in the day, Trump speculated that the death toll in Pittsburgh would have been curbed if an armed guard had been in the building. With both the number of deaths and details of the synagogue’s security still to be disclosed, Trump said gun control “has little to do with it” but “if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.”

But the attack did not persuade him that tighter gun controls are needed.

“This is a case where, if they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately,” Trump said. “Maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly. So it’s a very, very – a very difficult situation.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said, “We grieve for the Americans murdered in Pittsburgh. All of us have to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hateful rhetoric against those who look, love or pray differently. And we have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said: “We are devastated. Jews targeted on Shabbat morning at synagogue, a holy place of worship, is unconscionable. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community.”

Chuck Diamond, a former Rabbi at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue where the shooting occurred, said, “This has always been a thought in the back of my mind, scenarios just like this. During the week the building is locked. We have a security camera to see who comes. But on Shabbat it’s an open door. And there are people right there where he would have walked in.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement: “We are sickened by this horrific attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s historic Jewish neighborhood. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dead and injured as well as the rest of the congregation and Jewish community.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the ‎Persian Gulf state of Oman on Friday and discussed ‎peace initiatives in the Middle East with Omani ‎leader Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Prime Minister’s ‎Office said in a statement. ‎

The rare visit by an Israeli leader to the Arabian ‎Peninsula sultanate, which was not publicized in advance, came ‎days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud ‎Abbas returned from a three-day visit to Muscat, ‎where he also met with bin Said. ‎

Video: Reuters

A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said ‎Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were invited to visit ‎Muscat by the sultan  following extensive communications between ‎the two countries.‎

‎”Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Oman is the ‎first official meeting at this level since 1996,” the statement said. “He ‎and his wife were accompanied by Mossad Director ‎Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-‎Shabbat, Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval ‎Rotem, the prime minister’s bureau chief Yoav ‎Horowitz and the prime minister’s ‎Military ‎Secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth.” ‎

‎”The two leaders discussed, among other things, ways ‎to advance the peace process in the Middle East as ‎well as several matters of joint interest regarding ‎the achievement of peace and stability in the ‎region,” the statement continued.

“The prime minister’s visit is a significant ‎step in implementing his policy on deepening ‎relations with the countries in the region while ‎leveraging Israel’s advantages in security, ‎technology and economic matters,”‎ it said.

Prime Minister’s Office ‎

A statement by the Omani government described Israel ‎as an “accepted Middle East state.”‎

Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi ‎‎said his country could offer ideas to help advance ‎the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. but stressed ‎Muscat is not acting as a mediator in the talks, ‎stalled since 2014. ‎

‎”Israel is a state present in the region, and we all ‎understand this,” bin Alawi told a security summit ‎in Bahrain.‎ “The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is ‎time for Israel to be treated the same [as others ‎states] and also bear the same obligations. We are ‎not saying that the road is now easy and paved with ‎flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the ‎conflict and move to a new world,” he said. ‎

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al ‎Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s ‎role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, ‎while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the ‎kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations ‎with Israel was the peace process.‎

U.S. Special Representative for International ‎Negotiations Jason Greenblatt welcomed the “warming ‎ties and growing cooperation between our regional ‎friends,” tweeting, “This is a helpful step for our ‎peace efforts and essential to create an atmosphere ‎of stability, security and prosperity between ‎Israelis, Palestinians and their neighbors. Looking ‎forward to seeing more meetings like this!”‎

Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in ‎curbing Iran’s influence in the region.‎

Oman has long been to the Middle East what neutral ‎Switzerland is to global diplomacy. The sultanate ‎helped to mediate secret U.S.-Iran talks in 2013 ‎that led to the historic nuclear deal signed in ‎Geneva two years later.‎

Earlier this year, bin Alawi visited Jerusalem’s Al-‎Aqsa Mosque and Netanyahu has, on several occasions, ‎hinted at warmer ties with Gulf states.‎ He told Israel’s parliament last week that due to ‎fears of a nuclear threat from Iran, “Israel and ‎other Arab countries are closer than they ever were ‎before.”‎

Though uncommon, Israeli leaders have previously ‎visited the Gulf state.‎ In 1996, then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres visited ‎the Gulf state and dedicate an Israeli trade ‎representative office there. His predecessor, the ‎late Yitzhak Rabin, made the first trip to Oman in ‎‎1994.‎