Pittsburgh Jews noted a disparity when it comes to support for the Jewish community in the aftermath of the synagogue shooting and the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
PITTSBURGH—On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman killed 11 people and injured six others at the Tree of Life–Or L’Simcha Congregation—the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
Less than five years later, the Hamas terrorist group launched in Israel the deadliest single-day anti-Semitic attack since the Holocaust.
More than six years after the synagogue shooting and a year after Hamas’s attack, the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill, where the synagogue is located, will head to the polls to vote in a key state amid a rise in anti-Semitism.
The Epoch Times saw plenty of Harris–Walz campaign signs, and just one Trump campaign sign, throughout Squirrel Hill, where most of Pittsburgh’s Jews reside as there is a notable Orthodox Jewish presence that is split but leans Republican. The Jewish community in Pittsburgh overall, as is the case nationwide, is heavily Democrat.
A Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle poll shows 60 percent of Pittsburgh Jews saying Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is better for Israel, while 32 percent say Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump is best for the Jewish state. The remaining 5 percent and 3 percent voted “Other” and “No Opinion,” respectively.
Israel is an important issue for Jews in Pittsburgh, according to those who spoke with The Epoch Times.
The Orthodox community, according to Abbot “Abby” Mendelson, a retired journalist, is “very concerned that the anti-Israel forces will dominate both in the State Department, Department of Defense, and in the White House, and they’re very concerned about Vice President Harris also as someone who is not tough enough to take on the very bad people in the world.”
The rise in anti-Semitism is also a concern for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, as well as across the country, even since the synagogue shooting. There has been a 300 percent spike in anti-Semitic incidents in Pittsburgh since Oct. 7, 2023, with 154 such occurrences this year, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
“We’re living in a nightmare in ways that we had never had imagined before,” said Mendelson.
There have been a couple of anti-Semitic assaults at the University of Pittsburgh.
Another Pittsburgh school, Carnegie Mellon University, has been sued by an alum over allegations of anti-Semitism at the prestigious institution.
Pittsburgh Jews who spoke with The Epoch Times noted a disparity when it comes to support for the Jewish community in the aftermath of the synagogue shooting and the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in that it existed in the aftermath of the former but not the latter.
“I think it’s impossible for anyone to even begin to create a narrative where walking into a synagogue and murdering 11 Jews is anything other than anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, academics have been at work for a very long time creating a narrative that violence against Jews in Israel is not anti-Semitism,” said Rona Kaufman, a Democrat and law professor at Duquesne University, calling that notion “a false narrative.”
Mor Greenberg, a Republican, said it has to do with location.
“I think Oct. 27 was right here in people’s backyards. So it felt more personal. It felt like people just didn’t want to believe that there was anti-Semitism right here at home. When it’s in Israel, it’s easier to make judgments,” she said.
Mendelson said he and his wife were in the “Never Trump” camp but voted for the former president in this election because of anti-Semitism and, more so, Israel being their top issues.
Greenberg cited Trump’s signing in 2019 of an executive order combating anti-Semitism and congressional Republicans’ speaking out about anti-Semitism on campuses as a reason for her support for Trump.
Kaufman, a Democrat, said she is voting Republican this election.
While she has appreciated President Joe Biden’s militarily supporting Israel, she said she worries that “under Harris, it wouldn’t be as strong because Harris is not Biden.”
On the other hand, Sharon Brustein, a Democrat voting for Harris, expressed concern over Trump having dined with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes in 2022, who have been accused of being anti-Semitic.
She also said she doesn’t think Trump can be trusted despite his pro-Israel record during his presidency.
“He seems to indicate now that his second administration will be very, very different,” she said.
Brustein also cited Trump’s anti-hawkish tendencies as a cause for concern.
“American isolationism has never been good for Israel,” she said.
At the end of the day, whoever wins, it will not mean the end of the world, Greenberg said.
“I think this electron is going to be really tight, and people have put a lot of resources and emotion into it. I just think it’s good to remember that on Jan. 6, the sun will come up and our life will continue,” she said.
“And the real way we influence people is in our everyday life and everyday interactions with our family, with the community, and we will work with whoever is elected to advocate for the values that we hold true. But you know, everything is going to be all right.”