Two Israeli embassy staffers, one of them an American, were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted “free Palestine” as he was arrested.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led global condemnation of the attack, both of them blaming anti-Semitism.
“Blood libels against Israel are paid in blood — and they must be fought relentlessly,” Netanyahu said in a statement, ordering a boost in security at Israeli embassies around the world.
Photo: AFP
Shots rang out on the sidewalk outside the Capital Jewish Museum, 1.6km from the White House, late on Wednesday as it held an event for young professionals and diplomatic staff.
Emergency vehicles remained at the scene in the early hours yesterday after police taped off the area in the heart of the US capital.
Israel identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a US employee of the embassy, and said they were a couple who might have been planning to marry.
Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli embassy, while Milgrim worked for its public diplomacy department, their LinkedIn profiles showed.
Lischinsky was a Christian, according to the online newspaper The Times of Israel, for whom he had previously worked as a blogger.
Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith identified the shooter as a 30-year-old from Chicago, Elias Rodriguez, and said he was in custody.
Video of his arrest by police showed the bearded man in a jacket and white shirt shouting: “Free, free Palestine” as he was led away.
The attack came days after the museum was awarded a grant to boost security, as anti-Semitism surges worldwide since Israel’s devastating invasion of Gaza, prompted by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militants Hamas.
Witnesses reportedly said that security personnel appeared to mistake the man for a victim of the shooting and allowed him into the museum, where he was comforted by bystanders before claiming responsibility for the attack.
“Some of the people at the event brought him water. They sat him down. ‘Are you OK? Were you shot? What happened?’ And he’s like: ‘Somebody call the cops,’” Yoni Kalin, who was in the museum, told US media.
Smith told reporters that the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum before the shooting at about 9pm.
“He approached a group of four people, produced a handgun and opened fire,” she said.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told reporters the young staffers were a couple about to get engaged.
“The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” Leiter said. “They were a beautiful couple.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS