(CORRECTION) San Bernardino victim had clashed with shooter over Israel, Holocaust

One of the victims of the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., was a Messianic Jew who had clashed with co-worker and shooter Syed Farook over religion and politics, including the Holocaust and the right of Israel to exist as a homeland for Jews.

But his widow rejects the idea that her husband’s outspokenness against Islamic terrorism and in support of Israel drove Farook to kill 14 of his co-workers on Wednesday (Dec. 2).

“There are those out there who are spinning this,” Jennifer Thompson-Thalasinos told USA Today, referring to comments in social media and questions from reporters. “They are making it to be that my husband was asking for it ... that he caused this to happen.”

Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish while adhering to Christian beliefs. They celebrate Jewish holidays, often worship in Hebrew, and read the Hebrew Bible.

But they are not considered Jews in mainstream Judaism. Where Messianic Jews accept Christian Scripture and hold that Jesus Christ is the messiah, Judaism teaches that the messiah is yet to come. Estimated to number in the tens of thousands in the U.S., most Messianic Jews also hold that the creation of the modern state of Israel is part of a divine plan.

Thompson-Thalasinos said her husband argued with Farook about religion and the Holocaust before Wednesday’s shooting at the government service center where the two men worked as inspectors.

Thalasinos, his Facebook and Twitter feeds reveal, was eager to evangelize others to his brand of Christianity, and he often had harsh words for Islam and President Obama. He was a passionate defender of the Jewish state.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/correction-san-bernardino-victim-had-clashed-with-shooter-over-israel-holocaust/2015/12/07/013c1f36-9d39-11e5-9ad2-568d814bbf3b_story.html