New details are emerging about the hostage situation at the synagogue in Colleyville, TX, over the weekend. It turns out that the FBI did not rescue the hostages. They saved themselves.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker spoke with CBS News on Monday.
Nelson Oliveira reports at CBS News:
Rabbi threw chair at gunman before he and other hostages escaped Texas synagogue: “It was terrifying”A rabbi who was among the four hostages held during a nearly 11-hour standoff at a Texas synagogue managed to escape after throwing a chair at the gunman, he told “CBS Mornings” on Monday.Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker said he and the two other remaining hostages were “terrified,” especially during the last hour of the standoff Saturday night because the suspect “wasn’t getting what he wanted.” It was at that point that Cytron-Walker saw an opportunity to act.The rabbi said he first made sure the other hostages were ready to run and that the group wasn’t too far from the exit.”I told them to go, I threw a chair at the gunman and I headed for the door,” he said. “And all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired.”It was shortly after 9:30 p.m. local time that Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that all hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville were “out alive and safe.” A fourth hostage had been released earlier that evening.
Watch the interview below:
So the bottom line here is that the rabbi was the hero, not the FBI.
The FBI also got dragged for their initial claim that this attack wasn’t specifically related to the Jewish community.
Gabrielle Fonrouge reports at the New York Post:
Jewish leaders call FBI comments on Texas hostages ‘insulting’Jewish leaders ripped the FBI on Monday and said the bureau “got it wrong” when they said the terrorist who took hostages at a Texas synagogue didn’t make demands that were “specifically related to the Jewish community,” reports said.FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno made the comments late Saturday when addressing reporters after four people, including a rabbi, were taken hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville by British national Malik Faisal Akram.DeSarno noted that Akram was specifically focused on Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted in Manhattan federal court in 2010 of trying to kill US authorities in Afghanistan, and his primary demand was her immediate release from prison.“We do believe from our engagement with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community. But we are continuing to work to find [the] motive,” DeSarno said.
They have since changed their tune:
What is going on at the FBI?
Featured image via YouTube.
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