FBI facing backlash on social media for statement on the Texas synagogue ...

The FBI have sparked fury after they appeared to dismiss a terror attack at a Texas synagogue as not being targeted against Jewish people.

FBI Special Agent Matt DeSarno spoke on Saturday after British terrorist Malik Faisal Akram, 44, took four hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas and held them for more than 10 hours before he was shot dead by agents. 

'We do believe from our engaging with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community. But we're continuing to work to find motive,' DeSarno said.

Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss took issue with the FBI statement, and warned that wherever Jews were attack, the entire community felt the affects - especially in the wake of rising anti-Semitic attacks in recent years. 

'They are us. There's no distinction. Anywhere they are in danger, we are,' Hausman-Weiss, the founding rabbi of the Congregation Shma Koleinu, said Sunday morning.

People on social media were also quick to criticize DeSarno's statement and some even called for the organization to be 'defunded and eliminated.'  

'Just a coincidence that he targeted a house of worship used by this one particular religious minority, a coincidence that seems to happen an awful lot throughout history,' media correspondent Gregg Carlstrom tweeted. 

'I am sure the FBI will clean this up shortly, but until then, worth stating the obvious: The gunman did not travel thousands of miles to terrorize some Mormons. He sought out a synagogue and took it hostage over his grievances. That's targeting Jews, and there's a word for that,' journalist Yair Rosenberg tweeted.

'The FBI is a joke. A dangerous joke,' military intelligence analyst Sebastian Gorka noted.

Data from the FBI revealed that 58 percent of the US Jewish population are considered to be targets in religious based hate crimes.

'Hate crimes are up across the country, but considering that Jews make up 2% of the American population and yet nearly 60% of all hate crimes are anti-Semitic, there is definitely an issue going on,' Republican Texas. Rep Beth Van Duyne told Fox News.   

Following the aftermath of the shooting, different places of worship have begun enacting heightened security measures as a precaution.

'It is really frightening and scary that the Jewish day of rest, the Sabbath, was disturbed for this particular synagogue of course and really for Jews all over the world,' Rabbi Brian Strauss with the Congregation Beth Yeshurun in Houston told Fox.

'This is a day of rest, a day to thank God for all the good of our life, to be with our friends and family.

'Thank God everything worked out for the best, but it's frightening for all of us that attend places of worship in this great country.' 

Strauss added that he is planning to redevelop the security system at the synagogue to ensure their safety.

President Joe Biden has since spoke out about the shooting describing it as an 'act of terror.' 

Biden also gave additional remarks about the events of the shooting based on what is currently known.   

'I don't have all the facts and neither does the Attorney General, but allegedly the assertion was he got the weapons on the street, that he purchased them when he landed,' Biden said.

'And it turns out there were apparently no bombs that we know of, even though he said that there were bombs there as well.  

'He apparently spent the first night in a homeless shelter — I don't have all the details, so I'm reluctant to go into much more detail, but allegedly he purchased it on the street. What that means, I don't know if he purchased it from an individual in the homeless shelter or a homeless community.'

Biden said he has yet to contact Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who was leading the Sabbath service and was among Akram's four hostages.

'I'll put a call into the Rabbi. We missed one another on the way up here, but rest assured, we are focused. We are focused,' the president said. 

'The attorney general is focused that we deal with these kinds of acts. And thank God we had such professional FBI as well as local cooperation. I was told it was incredible, so I just wanted to let you know that.'

Asked if the incident meant a new push to restrict firearm access, Biden said: 'The idea of background checks are critical, but you can't stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street.' 

He indicated he would have more to say at his upcoming Wednesday press conference.  

Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel.  

Video from Dallas TV station WFAA showed people running out a door of the synagogue, and then a man holding a gun opening the same door just seconds later before he turned around and closed it. 

Moments later, several rounds of gunfire could be heard, followed by the sound of an explosion.  

Authorities said police were first called to the synagogue around 11am and people were evacuated from the surrounding neighborhood soon afterward.

Saturday's services were being livestreamed on the synagogue's Facebook page for a time. 

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that an angry man could be heard ranting and talking about religion at times during the livestream, which didn't show what was happening inside the synagogue.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the man said, 'You got to do something. I don't want to see this guy dead.' Moments later, the feed cut out. 

A spokesperson for Meta Platforms Inc., the corporate successor to Facebook Inc., later confirmed that Facebook had removed the video.

Multiple people heard the hostage-taker refer to Siddiqui as his 'sister' on the livestream. But John Floyd, board chair for the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - the

read more from dailymail.....