03 World

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Two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed on Wednesday evening near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington D.C., according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Washington D.C. police began investigating after reports indicated two victims had been shot across the street from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, near the museum, according to CNN. Around 10 p.m., Noem said the two killed were staff members for the Israeli Embassy, saying on X that the department is working to gather more information.

“Two Israeli Embassy staff were senselessly killed tonight near the Jewish Museum in Washington DC. We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share. Please pray for the families of the victims. We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice,” Noem wrote.

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Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed Wednesday evening while leaving an event at a Jewish museum, and the suspect yelled, “Free, free Palestine” after he was arrested, police said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Lischinsky was a research assistant, and Milgrim organized visits and missions to Israel.

They were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum when the suspect approached a group of four people and opened fire, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.

The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, was observed pacing outside the museum before the shooting, walked into the museum after the shooting and was detained by event security, Smith said.

When he was taken into custody, the suspect began chanting, “Free, free Palestine,” Smith said. She said law enforcement did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the community.

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The two Israeli Embassy staffers who were killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., were about to become engaged, according to Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter.

“The couple that was gunned down tonight in the name of ‘Free Palestine’ is a young couple about to be engaged,” Leiter told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday evening. “The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”

Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, both worked at the embassy. According to the Associated Press, Lischinsky was a research assistant and Milgrim organized visits and missions to Israel.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told reporters that Sarah Lynn Milgrim, left, and Yaron Lischinsky, were about to get engaged. (Reuters/Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

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The victims of a fatal shooting outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., have been identified as a young couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy and were on the verge of getting engaged.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, and referred to them both as embassy staff members. The Israeli Embassy said the pair were “in the prime of their lives.”

“No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss,” the embassy said in a statement on social media. “Our hearts are with their families, and the embassy will be by their side during this terrible time.”

Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., told reporters the pair was a “beautiful couple,” and said Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring “with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.” World leaders quickly condemned the slayings.

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World leaders reacted Thursday morning to the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., as the Israeli government blamed the attack on “antisemitic incitement” by other countries, “especially from Europe.”

Washington’s chief of police said the suspect in the attack, identified as a Chicago man, shouted “free, free Palestine,” as he was taken into custody.

The victims were identified as a young couple, Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA,” President Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social platform. “Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was “shocked by the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC.”

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JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused unnamed European officials on Thursday (May 22) of “toxic antisemitic incitement” he blamed for a hostile climate in which the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington took place.

Israel has faced a blizzard of criticism from Europe of late as it has intensified its military campaign in Gaza, where humanitarian groups have warned that an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid supplies has left the Palestinian enclave on the brink of famine.

Saar did not name any countries or officials but said the climate of hostility towards Israel was behind the shooting of the embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim outside a Jewish museum in Washington on Wednesday.

Saar, at a news conference in Jerusalem, said the attack was a direct outcome of “toxic antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world” since Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on Israel in October 2023.

“There is a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement to this murder,” he said. “This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and organisations, especially from Europe.”

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