The Killing of Israeli Embassy Staffers
Netanyahu’s Antisemitism Canard
Here was another chance – at least as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw it – of threading one set of events with another. It’s all part of the Israeli security state’s playbook: any killing of Jews or its citizens, wherever they might be, will have a causal link to rabid, drooling antisemitism. To protest ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, dispossession, starvation as a tool of war, and the conscious infliction of humanitarian catastrophe on a population is equivalent to believing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. These accusations and charges are seen as blood libels on the Jewish people, rather than rebukes and condemnation of the Israeli State and its policies.
The killing of Israeli embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum located in downtown Washington, D.C. was such a chance. According to Yechiel Leitner, the Israeli ambassador to the US, the couple were to be engaged.
The suspect gunman, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested at the scene and taken away shouting: “Free Palestine!” In court documents submitted by the FBI, the suspect, in handing himself to the officers, stated his rationale for the shootings: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.” He also professed admiration for US Air Force member Aaron Bushnell, who immolated himself outside the Israeli embassy in February 2024 declaring that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.” Rodriguez has been charged by the US attorney’s office in Washington with two counts of first-degree murder.
A grave, reflective response might have been in order. But the Netanyahu government has always been on the hunt for the political justification, and the political expedient. Given Netanyahu’s own political travails, be they corruption charges and his own unpopularity, this quest has become habitual. So it came to pass that Milgrim and Lischinsky could become a convenient platform to attack countries allied to Israel yet taking issue with the levelling and starving of Gaza.
The mood was set during a press conference given by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on May 21. The slaying of Milgrim and Lischinsky was “the direct result of toxic antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the October 7 massacre.” Israel’s missions and representatives across the globe had become “targets of antisemitic terrorism that has crossed all red lines.”
In suggesting “a direct line connecting antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder”, Sa’ar accused “leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe”, for being central instigators. They had resorted to “modern blood libels” in accusing Israel of “genocide, crimes against humanity and murdering babies”.
While not expressly mentioning them, the Foreign Minister was clearly referring to France, Britain and Canada and their joint statement of May 19 warning about the murderous implications of Operation Gideon’s Chariots. The statement affirmed the trio’s opposition to “the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.” Israel’s permission of “a basic quantity of food into Gaza” was condemned as wholly inadequate, while denying essential humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in the Strip was “unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.” The three countries further condemned “the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate.”
The statement went on to warn that, were Israel not to cease pursuing such “egregious actions”, cease the ongoing military operation, and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid, “we will take further concrete actions in response.”
On May 20, in his address to the House of Commons, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy noted the “abominable” situation of threatened “starvation hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians.” He grimly noted the words of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had spoken of “cleansing Gaza” and “destroying what’s left”, with the intention of relocating Palestinians to third countries. Such measures, for Lammy, were “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive.”
In light of such developments, negotiations with Israel over a new free trade agreement were to be suspended. A further three individuals and four entities involved in Israel’s illegal settler program in the West Bank were also to be sanctioned.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry was dismissive of the British position, calling the sanctions “regrettable”. “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”
It was Netanyahu, however, who pulled out all the stops. In a video address, he noted the words uttered by Rodriquez as he was taken away: “Free Palestine.” Finding such a statement obscene, he recalled that it was “the same chant we heard on October 7 [2023]”, when “thousands of terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza”, proceeding to behead men, rape women and burn babies. To take “Free Palestine” as a serious proposition was “today’s version of ‘Heil Hitler.’” It was a “simple truth” that had evaded “the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others.” In their proposals for establishing a Palestinian state, they were rewarding “these murderers with the ultimate price.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney were roundly condemned for being on “the wrong side of justice”, “humanity” and “history”. They had been praised by “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”. The PM’s objective was simple: avoiding the establishment of any Palestinian state, as it was bound to be vulnerable to seizure by “radicals”. It was axiomatic that such an entity would wish for the destruction of the Jewish state. The picture becomes complete: Israel’s operations, totally justified on national security grounds; critics, abominated as hateful antisemites; the Palestinians, radicals current or in embryo needing to be rubbed out.
No one doubts that the reserves of antisemitism run deep, clouded by miasmic, millennial hatreds. Few can also doubt that a dislike of policies driven by ethno-religious fanaticism contemptuous of human rights is a valid ground of protest. That this should end up in killings of individuals attending an event about humanitarian aid that would have otherwise appalled Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, et al., is another, disturbing irony. Fanaticism diminishes the horizon, leaving human beings bare, and hollow, and naked. And that baring is currently underway with remorseless intensity in Gaza.
Two Murderous Regimes, Three Murdered Embassy Employees
Youtube screenshot.
In November 1938, a seventeen year old refugee without papers named Herschel Grynzspan from Poland walked into the Nazi Embassy in Paris, France, asked to see a member of the diplomatic staff, and when Nazi diplomat Ernst von Rath appeared, shot him. Von Rath died not long afterwards, despite the efforts of Hitler’s doctors who were sent to Paris by Hitler. According to most sources, Grynzspan was angry at the Nazi regime for taking away his parents German citizenship and employment. They were then sent to a concentration camp in Poland not long before his action. Some historians have hinted that Grynzspan was gay, that von Rath was one of his associates and that Grynzspan was blackmailing him. Grynzspan was arrested in France, where he was imprisoned until the collaborator Vichy regime came to power; the Gestapo then transferred him to a concentration camp in Germany. No matter what the rationale was, the essential fact is that a few days later, the Nazi regime used the assassination as an excuse to attack Jewish people, their shops and their homes in what became known as Kristallnacht. While the Kristallnacht pogroms were not officially carried out by uniformed Nazis in the government or the Party, they were encouraged and supported by officials in the party including Joseph Goebbels, who made a speech essentially giving the Nazi rank and file the go ahead.
On May 22, 2025, most US residents woke up to the news that a thirty-year-old man named Elias Rodriguez had been arrested for killing two employees of the Israeli Embassy outside a benefit at the Jewish museum. Within hours of the shooting, members of the Trump administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump himself, linked the accused gunman to the movement against the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza—a movement they label as anti-Semitic—and vowed to step up the attacks on, the persecution and prosecution of anti-occupation protesters in the United States. The Israeli government used the murders as an excuse to kill more Palestinians.
I’m hesitant to predict how the fallout from this action will unwind. I hope it doesn’t precipitate a Zionist version of Kristallnacht with fanatics who want all Palestinians killed or exiled and then take it upon themselves to precipitate exactly that. We saw suggestions of this possibility in spring 2024 when US Zionist fanatics joined with reserve IDF troops and violently attacked encampments on college campuses around the United States. Some of these attacks were funded by wealthy Zionists of both the Christian and Jewish faiths.
Given the pro-Israel nature of the US establishment, I will phrase these next couple of sentences carefully. Also, as a student of movements the rulers call terrorist, I think I understand the anger and frustration that motivated the alleged killer to commit these murders. This doesn’t mean I support the act. Indeed, I can honestly state that I oppose the murders of the Israeli embassy employees just like I oppose the genocidal slaughter and starvation of tens of thousands of Palestinians by the Israeli military and its henchmen in the so-called settler movement. I doubt very much that most (or any) supporters of Israel and its occupation can honestly say the same thing.
There are at least two questions involved when considering the murders Rodriguez is accused of. One is moral and the other is political. They exist separately, complementary and as one. I know there are supporters of the Palestinian people who believe these killings to be morally justified. Their argument includes these essential facts: the dead were supporters of the occupation and its military aspects. Their employer was the government of Israel—a government accused of genocide by millions around the world, including the International Court of Justice. These facts made them complicit in the slaughter. I don’t believe I can do their argument justice since I oppose the murders, so I will move on.
I find murder morally reprehensible. As a general rule, I oppose killing. I have been fortunate, in large part because of the circumstances of my birth, and have never had to put my moral repulsion at killing to the test. In other words, I might very well be a member of an armed resistance force if I lived in Palestine. That being said, I have supported armed anti-imperialist and anti-colonial resistance in US colonies and neocolonies around the world, including the Black colony in the United States and continue to do so. I base this support on the idea that, as residents of the imperial power, it is not up to us to tell those fighting for their liberation how to fight for it. Instead, it is up to us to limit the damage the invader can do by opposing its political and military regime at home. I believe this can best occur by organizing massive civil disobedience and direct actions in solidarity with those resisting the US empire around the world. If the US did not have its economic and military talons skewering people around the world, there would be little to no need for armed resistance movements to oppose those oppressing and exploiting them.
The political element is a bit trickier to discuss. However, given recent history, it seems quite likely that the murders will be used to further crack down on the movement in support of the Palestinians. Protesters could see more federal and state felony charges for speaking out without permission, protests might be banned and those considered leaders will be silenced. The Zionists will be emboldened further, with the most hateful and fascist elements taking even more of a lead than they already have, while Jewish opposition to the occupation and the genocide will face greater repression and isolation. The template being used against the supporters of the Palestinians and anti-genocide protesters will become more repressive and potentially be applied to other anti-trumpist protests and protesters. In short, the ever-less-nascent fascism of the Trump administration will be given a much longer leash.
Given this possibility, it becomes more important than ever that the movement against the genocide broaden its base and deepen its solidarity and commitment to end US participation in and support for the Israeli occupation. The hunger strike begun by a few students is expanding into many other parts of US society, including veterans. This is one example of what this intensified opposition can look like. So are the massive protests in London, Amsterdam and Yemen, and many other places around the globe. So, too, are the blockades and occupations of corporations and financial institutions involved in providing Israel with the machinery of death, the weapons of mass destruction, the software and the technology to commit genocide.
The obvious intent of the regime in Israel (together with the United States and other collaborators) is to destroy the people and the concept of Palestine. That intent is as obvious as the cruelty undertaken by the Israeli military and many of its civilian supporters. Starving people to death reminds this human of the Nazi death camps. The antiwar priest Daniel Berrigan wrote in a letter to the Weather Underground in 1970, “Do only that which one cannot not do.”
The murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. has all the elements to enable increased persecution of U.S. citizens and residents who advocate for the safety and rights of Palestinians.
A man draped in the Israeli flag, bearing a cross and the name "Jesus" at its center, gestures as Metropolitan Police officers secure the area outside the Capital Jewish Museum following a shooting that left two people dead in Washington, D.C., in the early hours of May 22, 2025.
(Photo: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)
Abba Solomon
May 24, 2025
On November 7, 1938, Polish Jew Herschel Feibel Grynszpan shot diplomat Ernst vom Rath in the German embassy in Paris.
Grynszpan’s family had been made stateless by German and Polish governments, and were stranded in miserable conditions along with thousands of Jewish refugees at the Polish-German border.
The shooting of vom Rath provided the trigger for the Nazi pogrom across Germany of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass”—attacks of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. This date is thought to mark the progression from German persecution of Jews to the beginning of the Holocaust.
The poisonous identification of Jewish identity with the Jewish supremacist state of Israel—with its knee on the neck of Palestinians—to proclaim Judaism cognate with murderous nationalism—has its victims.
Today’s moment, the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. at an event sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), has all the elements to enable increased persecution of U.S. citizens and residents who advocate for the safety and rights of 2 millions residents of Gaza, and the rest of occupied Palestine.
Just as with Grynszpan’s crime, the effect of this killer’s decision will be out of his hands, and the cause of his desperation will only matter to those who already care.
The wretched, amoral lunatics who have command of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will have a clear field to “investigate” the curriculum of universities that host Palestinian studies, and criminalize the slogans “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”
We can count on crimes being committed by Pam Bondi (DOJ) and Kash Patel (FBI) in exploitation of this moment. The crocodile tears of this Proud Boy-aligned Christian nationalist government as they express solidarity with Jews against “antisemitism” will challenge our gag reflex.
The conflation of protesters for Palestine with “terrorists,” already in full force by the Departments of State and Education with expulsion of international students who have spoken out and organized, will be untrammeled by due process. Or due process will be twisted with the power of a state unbound by ethics in their determination to “make an example.”
The day following the Washington shooting, the AJC’s Ted Deutch was on MSNBC’s afternoon “Dateline White House” program, instructing that permitting campus demonstrations for Gazans’ right to live allows us to “tolerate hatred and antisemitism that leads to this violence.” Deutch made the rounds of Fox and CNN also.
In his morning MSNBC program appearance, he said, efforts must “double down” to insure that “what we saw last night never happens again and that words of antisemites, incitement that we’ve seen at too many places around the world, be treated as it is, that this could be the deadly result if we don’t act.”
The AJC, once fully cognizant of the dangers of turning the heterogenous Jewish people spread across the world in to a nationality, made sure in the aftermath of these pointless deaths that suppressing “delegitimization” of Israel was the focus, not Jewish rights to safety in their countries.
Since October 7, 2023, the world has watched the methodical torture of 2 million people in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces, month after month of civilian displacement; destruction; hunger; disease; and killing by bomb, artillery, drone, and bullet. U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell, in February 2024, immolated himself in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest America’s assistance in the misery. In December 2023 and September 2024 fatal self-immolations were enacted in front of Israel’s consulates in Atlanta and Boston.
The world watching—protesting, agonizing in helplessness—the horror of premeditated and systematic destruction of the people of Gaza has the obvious hazard of endangering Jews. A gossamer sense of object permanence is exhibited when Zionist advocacy at one moment proclaims Israel the state of the Jewish people, and the next decries hostility to Israel a symptom of some mysterious eternal human disease of antisemitism.
It is certain that the Washington killings will be used to maximize the sense of dread and siege in Jewish spaces, shaped to legitimize the Zionist stance that Israel is rational and her opponents crazed, irrational, bloodthirsty.
After the 9/11/2001 attacks, journalist James Bennett contacted Benjamin Netanyahu, then out of office.
That evening, I tracked down Benjamin Netanyahu, the once-and-future Israeli prime minister, to ask what the attack meant for U.S.-Israeli relations. “It’s very good,” he replied, with startling enthusiasm. Then he caught himself. “Well, it’s not very good, but it’s going to generate immediate sympathy.”
The poisonous identification of Jewish identity with the Jewish supremacist state of Israel—with its knee on the neck of Palestinians—to proclaim Judaism cognate with murderous nationalism—has its victims. Today, Zionist partisans in the United States of America, in and out of government, have their “bloody shirt.” Mazel tov!
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Abba Solomon
Abba A. Solomon is the author of "The Miasma of Unity: Jews and Israel" and "The Speech, and Its Context: Jacob Blaustein's Speech ‘The Meaning of Palestine Partition to American Jews,' Given to the Baltimore Chapter, American Jewish Committee, February 15, 1948."
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