Bowers’ trial in federal court in Pennsylvania will not begin until after jury selection. He has been formally charged with 63 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and attempted murder.
The assassin, shouting anti-Semitic slogans, shot and killed eleven people during a service in the Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018. It is probably the bloodiest anti-Jewish attack in US history. Members of three synagogue congregations were killed, two other worshipers and several police officers were injured. Bowers was shot by the emergency services when he was arrested immediately after the crime.
As early as 2019, the Pittsburgh federal prosecutor had indicated that he would seek the death penalty for Robert Bowers, citing his “lack of remorse” and “his hatred and contempt” for Jews.
There have been several attacks on synagogues in the United States in recent years. Six months after the deadly attack on the Pittsburgh synagogue, a gunman opened fire during Passover celebrations at a synagogue in San Diego, California, killing a woman and injuring three others.
In 2022, a British-Pakistani national abducted the rabbi and three other people in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. The hostage-taker was shot dead by the police, the hostages were unharmed.
According to FBI statistics quoted by the Washington Post on Monday, racist and anti-Semitic acts in the United States have recently increased massively. Accordingly, they have reached the highest level in 30 years.
The anti-racism organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded a record 2,717 anti-Semitic attacks in 2021 – an increase of 34 percent year-on-year. In contrast, the ADL put the number of anti-Semitic acts in 2022 at 3,697 – according to the Washington Post, more than since 1979.