Oct. 27 (UPI) — President Joe Biden marked the six-year anniversary Sunday of a deadly attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue that claimed the lives of 11 worshippers at the Squirrel Hill synagogue.
“It shattered families, pierced the heart of the Jewish community, and struck the soul of our nation,” Biden said in a statement.
Six years ago, a gunman armed with an AR-15 assault weapon and multiple handguns opened fire on worshippers from Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life worshippers in the Squirrel Hill synagogue, killing 11 people and wounding six more. It remains the deadliest act of Antisemitism in our history.
Squirrel Hills is the center of Jewish life and culture in Pittsburgh.
Biden used his remarks to call attention to an “appalling surge of antisemitism” amid the ongoing war in Gaza. He said the Jewish community in the U.S. “has also shown the country how to courageously turn pain into purpose” launching “a global initiative to counter hate and hate-fueled violence”
He said the trauma and losses of Oct. 7, “during which Hamas killed more than 1,200 people, took another 250 hostage and committed horrific acts of sexual assault, have been made worse by the appalling surge of antisemitism against Jews in America and around the world.”
Biden was in Pittsburgh on Saturday for a campaign event to back Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
