INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were gunned down at the weekend in an anti-Semitic attack, as more than 1,000 protesters gathered
nearby to make it clear the US president was unwelcome.Carrying signs that read "President Hate, Leave Our State!" and "Trump, Renounce
White Nationalism Now," the protesters gathered near the Tree of Life synagogue where the carnage unfolded Saturday.Trump -- accompanied by
his wife Melania, as well as his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who are Jewish -- was to light a candle for each of the 11
victims, killed during Shabbat services.The controversial visit came after mourners crowded into nearby synagogues and joined street
processions at the first funerals for some of the victims of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in modern US history.The service for brothers
Cecil and David Rosenthal, both in their 50s, was the first in honor of those killed in what was an apparent hate crime.Services for
66-year-old doctor Jerry Rabinowitz and 71-year-old Daniel Stein followed in Pittsburgh, where scores of residents protested Trump's
visit.The president's trip to Pennsylvania came amid a mounting row over whether his fierce rhetoric at campaign rallies and on Twitter has
helped stoke extremism ahead of next week's midterm elections."It's just enraging that this type of hate crime could occur here and that the
leadership of our country does not denounce anti-Semitism and does not denounce white nationalism and does not denounce neo-Nazism
And that is the problem," mourner Joanna Izenson told AFP.Suspect Robert Bowers is facing more than two dozen charges related to the
bloodshed at the Tree of Life, which is located in the city's traditionally Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood.The 46-six-year-old reportedly
told police after his capture, "I just want to kill Jews," having claimed on social media that Jews were helping transport caravans of
refugees from Central America into the United States, calling the migrants "invaders."The caravans are a favorite target of the president,
and he has called a group of several thousand impoverished mainly Honduran migrants currently attempting to walk north to the United States
"an invasion."'Beautiful tribute'Friends and strangers alike packed the Rodef Shalom temple, a 25-minute walk from the Tree of Life, for the
Rosenthals' funeral, which took place under tight security.After the service, mourners spilled out onto the street, some of them sobbing and
clasping each other.The brothers' caskets were placed in two hearses and driven away, with a sheriff's car leading the procession."It was
tragic, it was sad -- it was a beautiful tribute to two wonderful, loving, innocent men," said Paul Taylor, a Catholic priest who attended
the service, which he said was "standing room only."Another mourner, a retired teacher who only gave her first name Nancy, said: "I was
finally able to cry."Later in the day, dozens of mourners walked behind the hearse carrying the remains of Rabinowitz in Squirrel Hill,
according to footage posted on social media.Meanwhile, protesters gathered near the Tree of Life synagogue to vent their anger."Saturday's
violence was a direct culmination of your influence," said one organizer, reading from an open letter sent to Trump."President Trump, you
are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully renounce white nationalism."Jeffrey Myers, a rabbi who was present when the attack started,
told CNN, said: "The president of the United States is always welcome."But protesters disagreed."I think it's more divisive than uniting,"
57-year-old librarian Nonie Heystek said of Trump's visit.'Christian rabbi'The Pittsburgh shooting spree came in the same week that
authorities arrested an ardent Trump supporter from Florida on suspicion of mailing more than a dozen homemade bombs to opponents and
critics of the president.The incidents have led to accusations that Trump has fanned violence through almost daily tweets and speeches
lambasting illegal immigrants, political opponents and journalists in divisive language.Trump has struck back in typically robust fashion,
arguing that critical journalists were in fact the ones feeding extremism across the country."There is great anger in our Country caused in
part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news," Trump tweeted.Trump's Pittsburgh visit is not the only element of the
administration's response to the massacre that has been a source of controversy
behalf of the area's Jewish community.Instead of opening with prayers for the 11 victims of the Tree of Life shooting, Loren Jacobs praised
Jesus Christ and then offered prayers for four Republican candidates.Jacobs later offered words for the dead in the form of a prayer to
Jesus Christ, without naming any of them.Jews expressed outrage over social media, describing Jacobs' appearance as an "insulting political
stunt" and blasting Pence as a "Christian supremacist."(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent
staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
