Washington: Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed while leaving an event at a Jewish museum, and the suspect yelled, “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested, police said.
The stunning attack on Wednesday evening prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security and lower their flags to half-staff. It came as Israel has launched another major offensive in the Gaza Strip in a war with Hamas that has heightened tensions across the Middle East and internationally and as antisemitic acts are on the rise.
The two people killed, identified as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, were a young couple about to be engaged, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US.
Lischinsky told others at an event he attended before he was killed that he was looking forward to returning to Israel to celebrate an upcoming Jewish holiday, said Ted Deutch, the chief executive of the American Jewish Committee, which had put on the reception.
The couple were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect, who had been seen pacing outside the museum, approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
The gunman, identified by police as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, then walked into the museum, was detained by event security and began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Smith said.
“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” President Donald Trump posted on social media early Thursday. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Israel’s reaction
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday he was shocked.
“We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against Israel,” he said in a statement.
The US Attorney’s Office in Washington, led by former judge Jeanine Pirro, will prosecute the case. Public records list Rodriguez as living in a modest 850-square-foot apartment on Chicago’s north side. Chicago television station WLS captured video of heavily armed law enforcement
officers outside the building Thursday morning. Rodriguez’s only prior criminal record appeared to be a 2016 misdemeanour charge for shoplifting items valued at less than USD 300.
It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. A telephone number listed in public
records rang unanswered. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote in a post on social media that “early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence.”
Israel’s campaign in Gaza
The influential pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera aired on a loop what appeared to be mobile phone footage of the gunman, wearing a suit jacket and slacks, being pulled away after the shooting, his hands behind his back.
The war, ignited by Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of
some 250 hostages, has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced most of its population.
In the time since, Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, whose count doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The fighting has displaced 90 per cent of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape.
The shooting followed the AJC’s annual Young Diplomats reception at the museum.
“Sarah and Yaron were stolen from us,” said Deutch, the AJC’s chief executive. “Moments before they were murdered, they were smiling, laughing and enjoying an event with colleagues and friends. We are in shock and heartbroken as we attempt to process this immense tragedy.”
He described Milgrim, from Overland Park, Kansas, as “warm and compassionate, committed to peace building and passionate about sustainability and people-to-people relations.”
He said Lischinsky was a staff member of the embassy’s political department who at the event told others that he was eager to return to Israel to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot with his family.