Bulgarian Foreign Ministry strongly condemns mass shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said on October 28 2018 that it strongly condemns the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh.

Eleven people died in the shooting. The BBC reported that Robert Bowers, 46, faces criminal charges including murder in connection with the attack. The FBI is also investigating a possible federal hate crime. Reports said that Bower, who had shared antisemitic conspiracy theories online, had shouted “All Jews must die” during the attack on the synagogue.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said: “This tragedy shows that antisemitism and xenophobia, hatred and violence against the other must be finally eradicated”.

The ministry said that the story of the rescue of 50 000 Bulgarian Jews during the darkest times of the Second World War showed that when people valued human life so much that they were prepared to stand up to the most powerful, evil can be defeated. “That is why, today too, we must be united,” the ministry said.

“At this difficult time for the Jewish community, let us not forget the consequences that antisemitism can have – this is the message from Sofia, where the synagogue, the mosque, the Orthodox and Roman Catholic houses of worship are located next to each other.”

The Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences to the relatives of the dead and wished those injured a speedy recovery.

The UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, Bulgaria’s former foreign minister Nikolai Mladenov, said in a Twitter message: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of #Pittsburgh and all those affected by the terrible shooting attack. We cannot turn a blind eye to the rising tide of #Antisemitism, #xenophobia and racism globally, we must act to stop them”.

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