Board president condemns ‘reprehensible’ attempt to assassinate Trump

Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg has condemned as “reprehensible” the attempt to assassinate former US president Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Rosenberg said he was “shocked by the shooting at the Donald Trump rally” and was praying for him and the other attendees, adding:”Political violence is reprehensible and an affront to the democratic values we must all cherish.”

In scenes that shocked Jewish communities across the globe a gunman shot Trump in the ear, killed one member of the crowd and injured two others at Saturday’s rally. The gunman was shot dead by Secret Service agents.

Trump later posted on social media that he was “fine” after he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”.

UN political leaders, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Tory leader Rishi Sunak led a unified response to the news of the attack, with all sides expressing shock and condemnation of the latest use of political violence in the States.

Starmer tweeted to send his best wishes to Trump. “Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” he wrote on X.

The former prime minister and Conservative leader Rishi Sunak said he was “horrified by the attack in Pennsylvania … Violence and intimidation must never be allowed to prevail.”

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was named by the FBI as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination of the former president.

He was a registered Republican, and has no known criminal record, according to a data search.

An inquiry began on why the shooter was able to get on to a roof less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking.

Responding to the attempt to take Trump’s life in Israel, President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “I wish former President Donald Trump a speedy recovery, and condemn utterly and unequivocally the attempt on his life.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted that he was shocked by the attack and prayed for safety and speedy recovery.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was shocked by the shooting and continued the message of others that “violence can never ever be part of politics.”

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli wrote in a post on X, “The attempted assassination of President Trump is a direct result of the incitement and delegitimization campaign against him.

Chikli then attempted to suggest that in Israel, a similar campaign of incitement was being waged against Netanyahu.

In America Jewish groups and individuals reached out to express well wishes to the former President, including the Jewish Democrats who said they “were alarmed by the shooting at a Trump rally” and stated that “political violence has no place in our country.”

“We wish former President Trump and all those injured or impacted by today’s incident a speedy recovery and are grateful for law enforcement’s swift action,” added the group.

AIPAC also responded on social media saying they were “grateful for the courage of the Secret Service officers who risked their lives to protect him.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said the shooting was a “chilling moment that reminds us of our fragility” and stressed that violence should not be normalized in the context of politics.”