#upsetting as hell

do not.

Hell, I’m angry.

Lau’s quote was grossly taken out of context — not a single news report actually quoted the full interview, in which the rabbi mourned the victims and emphasized that a conversation about denominational differences is irrelevant here.

[...] I replicate here the original words of Rabbi David Lau, when asked by a Makor Rishon reporter about his attitude to the Conservative affiliation of the shooting’s victims:  Lau was asked to comment on the ultra-Orthodox Israeli news outlets’ coverage of the massacre, which refused to call the Tree of Life Synagogue a “synagogue” but rather calling it a “Jewish center.”

Lau was evidently aghast. “How is that relevant? Don’t bring that up in [connection to] this topic. We are talking about Jews murdered because they are Jews. Why is this even a question?! I don’t hear or understand what kind of a discussion can be in regard to this question. They were murdered because they were Jews. Why does it matter in what synagogue or what liturgy they were praying?!”