An ambulance and police vehicles line a street where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Two staff members at the Israeli embassy in Washington have been shot dead near a Jewish museum.
The shooting took place late Wednesday outside the Capital Jewish Museum, which was hosting an American Jewish Committee event at the time of the incident.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the deaths in an X post, saying, “We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share.”
Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy, confirmed that the two staff members were shot "at close range" while attending the event.
In a post on X, Israeli diaspora minister Amichai Chikli named Yaron Lischinsky, 28, as one of the embassy employees killed.
The second victim was also identified as Sarah Milgrim, a Jewish American who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Washington police chief Pamela Smith said a single suspect who was seen pacing outside the museum before the event was apprehended.
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriquez of Chicago, Illinois, "chanted 'Free, free Palestine,’ while in custody," she added.
Anger against Israel has increased worldwide since October 7, 2023, when the regime launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
More than 19 months into its brutal aggression, the occupying regime has failed to achieve its declared objectives in Gaza despite killing at least 53,655 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 121,950 others.
Israeli and US officials claimed that the shooting was driven by anti-Semitism, a term usually used by them to justify the Gaza onslaught and the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests.
US President Donald Trump condemned the incident on his Truth Social media platform, saying, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to "track down those responsible and bring them to justice."
Israeli president Isaac Herzog also called the shooting a “despicable antisemitic terror attack.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said security will be stepped up at the regime's embassies around the world.
Far-right Israeli heritage minister Amichay Eliyahu blamed Wednesday's attack on Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff and current head of the Democrats party, who said earlier that the regime is killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby.”
In response, Golan said the discourse of the Israeli cabinet ministers, including supporters of racist rabbi Meir Kahane, enabled the attack and caused Israel's unprecedented diplomatic isolation.
He also vowed to replace Netanyahu's regime and “restore security to all Jews, in Israel and anywhere around the world.”
