Israeli embassy couple shot dead in Washington DC
Two members of staff from the Israeli embassy in Washington DC have been shot dead outside a Jewish museum in the city.
As BBC News reported on May 22nd, Washington embassy staff Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were described as a “beautiful couple” by Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, who also claimed the couple were due to be engaged next week.
The embassy released a statement saying that “No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss. Our hearts are with their families, and the embassy will be by their side during this terrible time.”
The couple were shot outside Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington DC and were found unconscious at the scene by police and later pronounced dead in hospital.
A 30 year old man named Elias Rodriguez from Chicago has been arrested and is now being questioned by police.
Whilst being arrested Rodriguez chanted “Free, Free Palestine”.
The shooting comes in the wake of a week of international condemnation of Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza.
The FBI is leading an investigation looking into “ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on bias-based crime or a hate crime”.
The wider-political community has responded to the attacks with Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries saying that “Antisemitism has no place in our nation, and its rise must be urgently crushed by people of goodwill across America and throughout the world.”
US President Donald Trump has long criticised antisemitism in the US, most notably his administration has set about accusing universities such as Harvard and Columbia of harbouring anti-semitism due to pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place since Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip following the attacks from Hamas on October 7th 2023.
Trump has responded to the attack on social media calling it out as antisemitism and saying: “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”
BBC News, Sky News, Maghrebi
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