“I just want to kill Jews! Jews need to die!”
These were the maddening shrieks Robert Gregory Bowers yelled when he indiscriminately opened fire at the fellowship worship service of the Tree of Life synagogue at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where 11 persons were killed and several injured, including four responding policemen.
An American Jewish congregation, eight men and three women members lay dead in one of the deadliest anti-Semitism attacks in the US.
The Tree of Life was just one of the many synagogues that has suffered killings in the hands of so-called “white supremacist.”
In the past four years, the New Reform Temple in Kansas City, Missouri also went through the same diabolical rampage as it was hosting a Shabbat service. Three people were shot dead.
Bowers was subdued by a combined force of responding cops and SWAT elements only after getting wounded as he shot it out with the police.
He is now in stable condition after getting hospital treatment and has been promptly charged in court with 29 criminal counts including murder.
Bowers could be sentenced to death.
Among the charges filed against him were obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death – a hate crime – and using a gun to commit murder.
Bowers, a 46-year old self-employed truck delivery driver, was also charged under state law with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.
Not to scare people out of their wits, I am inclined to say that these unmitigated heinous incidents tell me that we are not only living in dangerous times but living in the end times of the Bible prophecy.
You know, as critics and faultfinders of the Duterte administration will discover, our country is a much safer place to live in because murderous killings like the above cited incidents do not happen frequently as they occur in the US.
Yes, there are killings here but compared to the American experiences, it looks like they are almost a lifestyle there. Grievous, isn’t it?
These alarming occurrences cannot be ignored. Jewish synagogues are now forced to employ armed security guards during their worship services to prevent a repeat of the Tree of Life bloodshed.
This shooting rampage comes on the heels of a protracted unveiling of an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan hatched by the Trump administration which was reported to be scheduled late this year or early next year.
It also preceded the approaching immigrant invasion in the southern borders of the US where more than 14,000 marching South Americans from Venezuela, Mexico, El Salvador and Nicaragua are foisted to force their way into the mainland via entry points in Texas and California.
Surprisingly, French President Emmanuel Macron has advised Trump to proceed with the US peace plan authored by the latter’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner who, it appears now, has emerged as the most trusted adviser of the US president.
Only 36 years of age, Kushner has been travelling to the Middle East in the company of the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talking in behalf of Donald Trump with national leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Macron has threatened to offer his own peace plan in 30 days should Trump delay and procrastinate his actions for the settlement of the long-delayed Israel-Palestinian crisis.
Well, we are doing better in the Philippines, are we not?
We are still enjoying relatively peaceful conditions despite the intermittent spewing of diatribes by the opposition against the incumbent administration whose unyielding political will power continues to push our government forward.
Big ticket projects of “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program of the Duterte government are in full swing, including the ground work laying ceremonies for the Metro manila sub-way and the huge island-wide Mindanao Railway System late this year.
Sometimes, in our simple mindset, we cannot help but appreciate the beauty that positive thinking brings, ranged against the negative conditions happening around the globe.
You might want to relate what Canadian American actor Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future series) said sometime in 1997: “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.” (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) Isaiah 50:10: “Who is among you that fears the Lord, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
