In Washington, DC, the country’s capital, federal prosecutors have charged a man who is accused of fatally shooting two Israeli embassy employees.
Elias Rodriguez was charged with two counts of first-degree murder on Thursday in federal court, as well as with murdering foreign officials, causing death with a gun, and aggravated assault with a weapon.
In a subsequent press conference, interim US Attorney Jeanine Pirro warned that the prosecution was looking through evidence for additional crimes and that those charges were only the start.
Pirro said, “This is a horrific crime, and I and this office will not tolerate these crimes,” Pirro continued.
“We will continue to look into this as a hate crime and a terrorism crime, and we will add more charges as the evidence warrants.”
Rodriguez is accused of shooting American employee Sarah Milgrim and Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.
The two employees were leaving an event hosted by the pro-Israel American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening at 9:08 PM Eastern time (01:08 GMT Thursday). At the scene, both were declared dead.
The young couple’s engagement is scheduled for the upcoming days, according to Israeli Embassy staff.
A young couple was about to get engaged in a foreign country when their bodies were taken from their bodies in a body bag in the dead of night. Pirro appeared to primarily make reference to Lischinsky’s foreign roots, saying, “We are not going to tolerate that anymore.”
Because these kinds of incidents remind us of past events that we can never and must never forget, this kind of case picks at old sores and scars.
One of Washington’s oldest synagogues, in the city’s heartland, is located next to the museum, so she made note of the attack on Wednesday night.
According to Pamela Smith, the suspect chanted “Free Palestine! ” to the Washington Metropolitan Police. “Free Palestine” following the incident. Rodriguez, who was originally from Chicago, appeared to have made an appearance and was taken into custody shortly after the shooting.
Rodriguez claimed in an affidavit that Rodriguez “did it for Palestine.” For Gaza, I did it.
Israel’s war against Gaza, where millions of Palestinians have been left without basic food and supplies, is drawing international condemnation as a result of the shooting.
At least 53, 000 people have been killed in the war, according to experts from human rights organizations and the UN.
Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities have all reported increases in harassment and racism since the war started on October 7, 2023.
Officials on Wednesday protested anti-Semitism, and President Donald Trump’s administration pledged to pursue the suspect in every legal way.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Thursday that the Department of Justice would pursue the perpetrator of this offense to the fullest extent permitted by the law. Under President Donald Trump, “Hatred has no place in the United States of America.”
She then compared “anti-Semitic illegal behavior” to anti-war protests at US universities, which have been largely peaceful. However, pro-Jewish hatred has been largely disapproved by protest leaders.
One US Congressman claimed that the “Palestinian cause” was “vil” after the shooting. Randy Fine, the representative from the republic of Virginia, continued to advocate that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan should end with World War II.
He claimed that “we nuked the Japanese twice to secure an unconditional surrender.” “That needs to be the same here,” he said. This culture needs to be eradicated because something is fundamentally, fundamentally wrong with it.
The Israeli government also referred to the shooting as an attack on its state.
Source: Aljazeera
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