The man who gunned down two Israeli diplomatic staff in Washington DC posted increasingly radical, violent messages online in the months leading up to the attack, including “De@th 2 Amerikkka” and calls to “bring the war home.” Authorities have identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez , a 31-year-old from Chicago, who shot dead Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening.
Rodriguez’s Twitter account, under the handle kyodo.leather, featured a disturbing series of anti-American and pro-Hamas messages, including one in which he encouraged bombing the offices of The New York Times. “Can we PLEASE save the idealistic and high-minded debate over the morality of sending a truck bomb... until AFTER we send a truck bomb,” he wrote on 16 October 2024. He also reposted comments blaming then-President Biden and the Democratic Party for what he described as the “Gaza genocide.”
Police said Rodriguez approached a group of four people as they left a reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee and opened fire. The couple, both in their 20s, were preparing to travel to Jerusalem next week where Lischinsky had planned to propose. He was an Israeli national working as a research assistant, while Milgrim was an American employee at the Israeli Embassy responsible for organising missions.
When detained by security and arrested by police, Rodriguez repeatedly yelled “Free, free Palestine” and pulled out a red keffiyeh. Inside the museum, shocked witnesses initially thought he was a distressed attendee. “This event was about humanitarian aid,” said one witness, “and then here he is just murdering two people in cold blood.”
Following the shooting, a manifesto surfaced online, attributed to Rodriguez, titled Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home. The 900-word document, dated 20 May, described the murders as a “sane” and “morally justified” response to what he called the “genocidal state” of Israel. It cited death tolls from the Gaza Health Ministry and referenced past self-immolation protests by former soldiers.
Rodriguez wrote: “Inhumanity has long since shown itself to be shockingly common... A perpetrator may be a loving parent... and yet be a monster.” He suggested that “the action would have been morally justified taken 11 years ago,” but that “today at least, there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and... the only sane thing to do.”
Israeli officials condemned the murders as a blatant act of antisemitic terrorism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he was “shocked” by the killings, describing them as the result of “wild incitement against Israel.” Ambassador Yechiel Leiter confirmed the young couple had been planning to become engaged next week in Jerusalem.
The attack comes amid mounting tensions over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, where over 53,000 people have reportedly been killed since October, with the majority being women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The war, which began after Hamas attacked southern Israel and took hostages, has displaced 90% of Gaza’s population and pushed much of the territory to the brink of famine.
Rodriguez’s Twitter account, under the handle kyodo.leather, featured a disturbing series of anti-American and pro-Hamas messages, including one in which he encouraged bombing the offices of The New York Times. “Can we PLEASE save the idealistic and high-minded debate over the morality of sending a truck bomb... until AFTER we send a truck bomb,” he wrote on 16 October 2024. He also reposted comments blaming then-President Biden and the Democratic Party for what he described as the “Gaza genocide.”
Police said Rodriguez approached a group of four people as they left a reception hosted by the American Jewish Committee and opened fire. The couple, both in their 20s, were preparing to travel to Jerusalem next week where Lischinsky had planned to propose. He was an Israeli national working as a research assistant, while Milgrim was an American employee at the Israeli Embassy responsible for organising missions.
When detained by security and arrested by police, Rodriguez repeatedly yelled “Free, free Palestine” and pulled out a red keffiyeh. Inside the museum, shocked witnesses initially thought he was a distressed attendee. “This event was about humanitarian aid,” said one witness, “and then here he is just murdering two people in cold blood.”
Following the shooting, a manifesto surfaced online, attributed to Rodriguez, titled Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home. The 900-word document, dated 20 May, described the murders as a “sane” and “morally justified” response to what he called the “genocidal state” of Israel. It cited death tolls from the Gaza Health Ministry and referenced past self-immolation protests by former soldiers.
Rodriguez wrote: “Inhumanity has long since shown itself to be shockingly common... A perpetrator may be a loving parent... and yet be a monster.” He suggested that “the action would have been morally justified taken 11 years ago,” but that “today at least, there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and... the only sane thing to do.”
Israeli officials condemned the murders as a blatant act of antisemitic terrorism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he was “shocked” by the killings, describing them as the result of “wild incitement against Israel.” Ambassador Yechiel Leiter confirmed the young couple had been planning to become engaged next week in Jerusalem.
The attack comes amid mounting tensions over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, where over 53,000 people have reportedly been killed since October, with the majority being women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The war, which began after Hamas attacked southern Israel and took hostages, has displaced 90% of Gaza’s population and pushed much of the territory to the brink of famine.
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