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Journalism of Courage
DC embassy shooting update: A man and a woman who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, were fatally shot while leaving the Capital Jewish museum on Wednesday evening (May 21).
The couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, was set to be engaged soon. US President Donald Trump reacted to the incident in a post on X, saying, “These horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” and that “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also mentioned anti-semitism (meaning prejudice or hatred towards people belonging to Semitic religions) in its statement, saying he was “shocked” by the “horrific, antisemitic” shooting. What exactly happened, who is the suspect, and what is the context behind the responses to the attacks? We explain.
Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, was a research assistant, while Milgrim, a US citizen, organised visits and missions to Israel.
The couple left the museum around 9.15 pm, when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said. The suspect walked into the Jewish museum after the shooting and was detained by event security.
When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Smith said. However, law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community, she said.
Who is the suspect?
Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been identified by law enforcement officials. He is being questioned both by the local police and the FBI. According to The New York Times, he was not previously known to be on the police’s radar.
And what is the larger context?
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar argued that the attack was “the direct result of toxic antisemitism against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the Oct. 7 massacre.”
Following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attacks on Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed, Israel launched a military offensive that has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 people in the Gaza Strip – a majority of them women and children.
Israel has drawn worldwide condemnation for its actions, including from Western countries, which urged restraint. In the US, protests have been organised in colleges, including the premier Ivy League, which have become a flashpoint for the limits of academic freedom guaranteed to higher education institutions.
Police have been deployed at times to stop such protests because classes were being disrupted and, more importantly, the agitations were linked to antisemitism. However, protesters said that targeting the religious identity of Jewish people through slogans or signs only happened in a few cases of individual protestors, not as part of the stated aims of the student movements.
By and large, their focus has been cutting funding and collaborations with Israel on a university level, boycotting brands operating in Israel in a more general sense, and ultimately building pressure on Israel to cease its military action. Even though the US has been the staunchest ally of Israel historically, student protests have also questioned the larger actions of the Israeli state towards Palestinians, even before 2023.
Students have argued that anti-semitism was being used as a bogey to end the protests. Under the Trump administration, the government has taken a harder stance and deported students for joining pro-Palestine protests, citing anti-semitism.
In recent weeks, the Israeli blockade in Gaza has come under a renewed bout of criticism, for its role in the region nearly running out of food, including baby food. In one of the strongest condemnations from Western countries thus far, France, the UK and Canada issued a joint statement on May 19.
They said they “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza” and “The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable.” On the larger question of Palestine, they said, “We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to achieving a two-state solution and are prepared to work with others to this end.”
Following the Wednesday attack, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “antisemitism is an evil we must stamp out wherever it appears. My thoughts are with their colleagues, family and loved ones, and as always, I stand in solidarity with the Jewish community.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also reached out to Netanyahu following what he described as “an antisemitic attack.”
(With Associated Press inputs)
