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BREAKING: Pittsburgh synagogue shooter sentenced to death
PITTSBURGH (JTA) — A jury has given the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter a death sentence, handing down the maximum punishment for the worst antisemitic attack in American history.
The sentence marks an end to the months-long trial of Robert Bowers, who was convicted in June of murdering 11 Jews during Shabbat prayers on Oct. 27, 2018. The shooting, at a synagogue in the historically Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, changed the way Jews across the United States viewed themselves and their place in American society. It was a stark example of a rising tide of antisemitism and led Jewish institutions across the country to bolster their physical security.
The gunman’s lawyers had not contested his guilt but argued that the act was a result of his mental illness and did not merit a death sentence. On Wednesday, the jury rejected that argument, deciding unanimously that he should be put to death. Many of the victims’ families, though not all, had pushed for the gunman to receive a death sentence.
Bowers’ sentence makes him the most prominent person to be condemned to death for antisemitic crimes since Adolf Eichmann, convicted and executed by Israel in 1962 for his role in perpetrating the Holocaust.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville, who has presided over the trial, is bound to honor the jury’s verdict. The jury’s decision, though, does not mark an end to the case, as Bowers, like all people sentenced to death, is entitled to an appeal.
The verdict is a rare failure for Bowers’ lead attorney, Judy Clarke, who has represented some of the most high-profile murderers in recent U.S. history, including Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber; the surviving Boston Marathon bomber; and the white supremacist who opened fire in a Jewish community center outside of Los Angeles in 1999. She had successfully argued in all but one case that the men should spend their lives in prison, not be executed for their crimes.
Stephen Cohen, the co-president of New Light, one of the three congregations targeted in the shooting, said earlier this week that he expected a measure of relief upon learning the verdict, whatever it was. But he said he did not expect it to be long-lasting.
“There’s a whole debate that has been going on for five years, you know, should there be a trial? Should he be forgiven? Should he get life imprisonment? Should he get the death penalty?” he said on Monday evening. “And all the questions that are trying to get resolved… have been swirling around for five years. We all just want a resolution.”
Regarding the jury’s verdict, he added, “Is that a resolution one way or another? It is a resolution. And at that point, you know, maybe there’s a way to, to even move forward in a positive sense. But you know, it’s the death penalty. Then there’ll be appeals. And if there are appeals, you know, everybody will have to testify again in court. If he’s imprisoned, will he have the ability to speak? There are no good answers.”
Bowers killed 11 people who were worshipping at three congregations: Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash. The victims were Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.
Bowers’ trial began on May 30. On June 16, the jury found him guilty of all 63 counts he faced. On July 13, the jury decided that his crimes were eligible for the death penalty.
Since 1988, when the federal death penalty was reintroduced after 16 years during which it was ruled unconstitutional, only 16 federal executions have taken place, all by lethal injection. The vast majority of them — 13 — took place during a short period in the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency. Dylann Roof, the man who murdered nine worshippers in a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, is on federal death row now.
The man who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019, killing one person, was sentenced in federal court in 2021 to life plus 30 years in prison.
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The post BREAKING: Pittsburgh synagogue shooter sentenced to death appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.