Last night, directly across from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed. The Embassy identified the two as Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Milgrim was identified as a peace activist, working with both Israelis and Palestinians. The two were outside on the street near the Jewish Museum, having just left an event entitled “Young Diplomats Reception,” sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, including speakers from the Multifaith Alliance and IsraAID.
The suspect was identified, Metropolitan Department Chief Pamela Smith reported, as Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old resident of Chicago. She said that Rodriguez opened fire outside the museum, disposed of his weapon and then entered the museum. He appeared distraught and was offered water. He was detained by security at the event and told authorities where he discarded the weapon, which they later recovered.
A script to link opposition to the Gaza genocide with anti-Israeli blind terrorism, and perpetuate the war in the Middle East, could not have been written so conveniently by London’s “strategy of tension” specialists—and it probably was.
Milgrim, from Kansas, was a graduate student at American University School of International Service, interested in peace efforts. More recently, she was employed in the Embassy’s department of public diplomacy. Lischinsky was a staffer in the Embassy’s political affairs department.
