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.”
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