Daily Times

WASHINGTON: The American-Muslim community united to condemn the deadliest attack against Jews on U.S. soil and raise tens of thousands of dollars to support the victims of the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

The crowd funding campaign hosted by Muslim crowd funding site Launch good, aims to help the victims, “whether it is the injured victims or the Jewish families who have lost loved ones.” The site said.

The initiative was taken by Tark El- Messidi, a Muslim – American speaker and founder of not for prophet organization Celebrate Mercy, that “teaches about the Prophet Muhammad’s life and character.”

According to the campaigns page, the original goal of $25,000 was raised in “only” six hours. The goal was then extended to $ 50,000, which is also close to being reached at the time of reporting.

In a tweet El- Messidi said, ” MUSLIMS: Let us stand with our Jewish cousins against this senseless, anti-Semitic murder. Guided by our faith… Donate now to help shooting victims with funeral expenses and medical bills: launchgood.com/synagogue.”

Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement on Saturday in solidarity with the Jewish community.

“We condemn this heinous and cowardly attack on a house of worship, offer heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of all those who were killed or injured and express our solidarity with the Jewish community during this time of shock and grief,” said program director Zohra Lasania.

CAIR-Pittsburgh chapter President Safdar Khwaja added:

“This barbaric attack on our neighbours, with whom we share our city and have visited and dialogued multiple times, is deeply disturbing and horrifying. Such an act of terror affects all of us.”

Empowering Engaged Muslims (Emgage), an organization focused on electing more Muslims to public office released a statement also condemned the attacks.

“We are witnessing an alarming increase in hate crimes as well as frequent mass shootings across the country.”

Although Congress recently passed Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018 – S.994 to combat the increasing number of hate crime in the U.S. Emgage said, “more needs to be done to protect religious and ethnic minorities and to curb access to the type of weapons that are used in mass-casualty attacks.”

The statement continued, “Emgage stands with the Jewish community during this terrible time. No person, regardless of their religious affiliation, should ever be afraid to openly practice their faith.”

They called for more action “to protect religious and ethnic minorities and to curb access to the type of weapons that are used in mass-casualty attacks.”

The shooting has focused attention on the increasing hate crimes in the U.S., as the country braces itself for the midterm election next month. Only last week over a dozen bombs were sent to prominent critics of US President Donald Trump.

In Saturdays massacre, the shooter, Robert Bowers, 48, killed eleven people and injured six people including four police officers.

At a news conference on Sunday, Karl Williams, the Allegheny County chief medical examiner released the names of the victims killed. They included a married couple and two brothers, they ranged in age from 54 to 97, with most over 70- years old.

The victims were found in three areas of the synagogue and the crime scene will take a week for officers to investigate said the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, Robert Jones.

In an affidavit released on Sunday by Pittsburgh police, Bowers said “his motivation for hatred for Jews,” spurred his actions. Bowers made statements to [police] that he wanted all Jews to die and also that they [Jews] were committing genocide to his people,” The affidavit said.

Federal prosecutors are treating the shooting as a hate crime rather than domestic terrorism and if found guilty, Bowers, would face the death penalty.

Published in Daily Times, October 29^th 2018.