Some social media users on X and Instagram are celebrating the killings of two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were shot outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.
On Lischinsky’s X account, multiple users have replied to his pinned post, elated at the news he was gunned down while walking with his girlfriend in D.C.’s downtown in what appears to be a targeted attack.
Rodriguez has a long history of being involved with far-left groups and causes over the years.
Similarly, on a video of a press conference about the shooting that was posted to Instagram, the comment section was flooded with people saying, “Free, free Palestine,” and wishes of eternal suffering on the couple.
A friend of Lischinsky revealed he was a “devout Christian” who “loved America. He was excited about the future, about finally visiting Texas, and about the life he and his beloved fiancée were building together. I was supposed to meet her today.”
The suspected gunman is 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, from Chicago, Illinois. Witnesses say after the shooting, Rodriguez ran into the Jewish event Lischinsky and Milgrim were leaving from and asked for water. Rodriguez was then caught on video with a red keffiyeh and shouting, “Free, free Palestine!” while being taken into custody by responding police.
Rodriguez has a long history of being involved with far-left groups and causes over the years, including at one point being a part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The PSL has been one of the many organizations that has assembled anti-U.S. and anti-Israel protests across the country in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. Sometimes, those protests become violent or disruptive, requiring police to intervene.
“We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the DC shooting. Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL. He had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017. We know of no contact with him in over 7 years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it,” PSL said in a statement.
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Politics, Israel embassy