Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
The ZOA sends its heartfelt condolences to the families of the ten innocent deceased victims of the Buffalo Tops supermarket shooting – Roberta A. Drury, 32; Celestine Chaney, 65; Margus D. Morrison, 52; Andre Mackneil, 53; Katherine Massey, 72; Heyward Patterson, 67; Ruth Whitfield, 86; Geraldine Talley, 62; and Pearl Young, 77. We also wish a full and speedy recovery to the three wounded innocent victims of this horrific mass shooting. We also praise the heroism of the victims who tried to stop the shooter, and Buffalo police officers who acted quickly to end the rampage.
The Buffalo massacre was perpetrated by an evil, anti-Black racist, antisemitic, deranged white supremacist. The Buffalo shooter reportedly chose his target because the Buffalo Tops supermarket was located in a zip code with a high percentage (78%) of African Americans. The overwhelming majority of Americans from both parties are united in being horrified and repulsed by the shooter’s violent, fringe anti-Black racism and white supremacism. It is disappointing that some left wing pundits are using this horror to divide us, by wrongly blaming the shooting on mainstream Republicans and Conservatives who oppose unvetted immigration for valid security reasons.
It is also alarming that the Buffalo shooter’s 180-page screed made derogatory statements about Hasidic Jewish communities; mentioned specific Jewish towns such as Lakewood, NJ; mentioned Jersey City (the site of an antisemitic Black supremacist attack on Jews and others in a kosher store); promoted anti-Jewish conspiracy theories; depicted Jews as rats; and called for a “real war” against Jews.
The ZOA also sends our condolences to the family of Dr. John Cheng, 52, the heroic deceased victim who died while helping to stop a Taiwan-hating Chinese-born gunman, after the gunman opened fire at elderly Taiwanese worshipers at the Irvine, California Taiwanese Presbyterian Church on Sunday. We also wish a speedy recovery to the five Taiwanese worshipers injured in this horrific mass shooting.
All this hatred needs to stop.