Israeli Embassy staffers shot dead in DC

Two Israeli Embassy staffers – Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram – were shot dead outside an event in Washington, DC, late last night.

The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, was seen pacing around Washington, DC’s Capital Jewish Museum in the minutes before Wednesday’s attack. 

According to Pamela Smith, DC’s chief of police, he shouted “Free Palestine” before shooting and killing Lischinsky and Milgrim, who were soon to be engaged according to Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter. The suspect then walked into the museum, where he was briefly mistaken for an innocent bystander before being apprehended by the police. 

The murdered couple had been attending an event inside the building, described online as a “Young Diplomats Reception” for young Jewish professionals between the ages of 22 and 45.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has called it “a depraved act of antisemitic terrorism.”

President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social media page to say: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen!”

Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Kash Patel, the FBI Director, both said their teams were investigating the murders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared: “Make no mistake: we will track down those responsible and bring them to justice.” Attorney General Pam Bondi last night visited the scene of the crime. “Praying for the victims of this violence as we work to learn more,” she wrote on social media. 

More details will emerge in the coming hours. But the murders fit a pattern of increasingly rabid anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in America, often on university campuses, and organised by radical left-wing groups. These incidents tend to be motivated by a demented sense of grievance about the war in Gaza. The Israeli Embassy in Washington has also attracted a large number of protests in recent months. 

Last night’s crime comes at a delicate moment in international relations concerning the Middle East. Having long supported Israel as America’s close ally, Donald Trump and some members of his administration have recently begun expressing their concerns about the humanitarian crisis for Palestinians in Gaza. The Trump administration has also reportedly fallen out with Bibi Netanyahu over the US president’s closeness to Qatar and America’s eagerness to pursue a peace deal with Iran instead of supporting an Israeli attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities. 

The latest reports from the region suggest Israel is preparing an imminent military assault on Iran. Quite how the latest violence in America’s capital will play into that tense diplomatic situation remains to be seen. For now, though, the Trump administration is keen to signal that it stands with Israel – and that domestic anti-Semitism will not be tolerated.