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“Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed [last] Wednesday evening while leaving an event at a Jewish museum.” AP News
“A Chicago-born man arrested as the lone suspect in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington was charged [last] Thursday in federal court with two counts of first-degree murder…
“[Elias] Rodriguez told police on the scene, ‘I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,’ according to the charging documents. Witnesses recounted hearing him chant, ‘Free Palestine’ after he was taken into custody. [The two victims] were identified as Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, a young couple about to become engaged to be married.” Reuters
Both sides condemn the murders and worry about increasing antisemitism:
“Lischinsky, a devout Christian born to an Argentinian Israeli father and a German mother, had just bought an engagement ring. Milgrim, a Jewish American with a master’s degree from the United Nations University for Peace, was devoted to humanitarian work and cross-cultural dialogue. They were idealists. They were in love. And they were murdered—not for anything they had done, but for who they were and what they represented…
“We must reaffirm that no political grievance justifies murder. That Americans—of any faith or background—should not have to fear for their lives while leaving a museum event. That violence in the name of justice is still violence. And that democracy works only when we preserve the norms that keep politics from devolving into civil conflict.”
Reihan Salam and Jesse Arm, The Atlantic
“It has been a difficult few years for American Jews. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents across all 50 states and the District in 2024, up 5 percent from the year before and 344 percent over the past five years… Antisemitism has flared up alongside mass protests against Israel over its forceful response to Hamas’s barbaric attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. But even before the war, Jews were experiencing rising hate…
“It is essential that everyone speak out clearly and unequivocally against political violence. Whether it emanates from the fever swamps on the left or right, whether it’s Islamophobia or antisemitism, whether it targets a presidential candidate or the chief executive of a health insurance company, politically motivated violence in America cannot be tolerated.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post
Other opinions below.
“Rodriguez spoke in the language of anti-Zionism, but he acted with the logic of antisemitism, which has as its foundational myth that all Jews are collectively to blame for the policies of the Israeli government and, often enough, for the ills of the world. Rodriguez allegedly found two people, whose lives he knew nothing about, and made them die for Israel’s sins.”
Emma Green, New Yorker
“Since October 7, 2023, prominent elements of the pro-Palestinian movement have glorified political violence. Though repeatedly warned that this was harmful, including by fellow critics of Israel’s war, this kind of talk became normalized — including in the sort of online left-wing social media spaces where the DC suspect apparently spent time. The vast majority of the pro-Palestine movement is peaceful, but the most radical subfaction created a climate where real-world violence might become more thinkable…
“Moreover, the killing in DC actually endangers the chances for peace in Gaza — changing the domestic politics on Israel-Palestine in a way that decreases the chances of the US government reining in Israel even as it begins a nightmarishly violent offensive.”
Zack Beauchamp, Vox
“Just a few years out of college, [Sarah Milgrim] was already known for her engagement with organizations that brought together Christians and Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians… The couple were shot again and again as they left an interfaith event about ‘turning pain into purpose’ — a night dedicated to humanitarian collaboration, including efforts to aid civilians in Gaza…
“The shooter allegedly shouted ‘Free Palestine.’ The irony of that moment is so sharp, it almost feels scripted… But just as the extremist misunderstood Sarah, so too do many of those who profess to weep for her loss. Those who mourn Sarah should reflect on her ideals, learn from her life’s work and aim as she did on creating the fragile groundwork for Middle East peace. It was a future she helped prepare for, one conversation, one relationship at a time.”
Yasmina Asrarguis, New York Times
“Just weeks ago, after all, another anti-Israel terrorist, 38-year-old Cody Balmer, allegedly firebombed the residence of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro… Those behind these disruptive, illegal acts justify them by citing the alleged genocide committed by the Israeli government…
“This logic, though, extends beyond the anti-Israel movement. It was the same logic that justified Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson earlier this year, and that informed the firebombing of Teslas… [Rodriguez is] an anti-civilizational nihilist—like Balmer, Mangione, and every other petty terrorist before or after him. Such nihilism has no place in a civilized society.”
Charles Fain Lehman, City Journal
“Words either have meaning or they don’t. And many left-wing Americans have, for a long time now, argued that they have tremendous meaning. How often, as the concept of the ‘microaggression’ and its campus ‘safe space’ corollary took off last decade, were we told that ‘words are violence’?…
“Are we really not supposed to take seriously the clear calls for Jewish genocide that have erupted on American campuses and throughout American streets since the Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7, 2023? Are we really supposed to believe that chants such as ‘globalize the intifada,’ ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ and ‘there is only one solution, intifada revolution’ are vague and open to competing interpretations?…
“When pro-Israel Jewish American Paul Kessler died after being hit on the head during a clash of protesters in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 5, 2023, that is what ‘intifada revolution’ looks like in practice. When Israeli woman Tzeela Gez was murdered by a jihadist while en route to the hospital to deliver her baby earlier this month, that was what ‘from the river to the sea’ looks like in practice…
“And when two young Israeli Embassy staffers were executed while leaving an event this week at Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum, that is what ‘globalize the intifada’ looks like in practice.”
Josh Hammer, Los Angeles Times
