Israeli Leadership Offers Condolences to Victims of Attack on Pittsburgh's Synagogue

TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2018) � The Israeli leadership offered condolences late on Saturday to the families of victims of the attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh and expressed solidarity to the Jewish community of the US city.

A gunman opened fire on Saturday inside a synagogue in Pittsburgh in the US state of Pennsylvania, killing 11 people and injuring six others, according to the US authorities. FBI official Robert Allan Jones said that the suspect had been armed with what appeared to be an assault rifle and at least three handguns.

"I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today.

The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

The prime minister was joined by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, the speaker of the country's parliament.

At the same time, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennet said that he will depart to the United States soon in order to meet with the diaspora's leaders and attend the funeral of the victims.