Israeli embassy staff killed in Washington DC: what we know so far
Update :Israeli embassy staff killed in Washington DC:
- On Wednesday evening, two Israeli embassy employees were assassinated as they were leaving a function at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
- According to Pamela Smith, the chief of police for the Washington Metropolitan area, a guy brandished a firearm at a group of four individuals, striking two of them. Before the incident, he was observed pacing outside the museum.
- According to investigators, the suspect, who has been tentatively identified as Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 30, has never interacted with the police before. Smith said that after being arrested, he yelled, “Free, free Palestine.”
- The victims’ lives had been “cut short by a heinous antisemitic murderer,” according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- According to US President Donald Trump, “hatred and radicalism have no place in the USA” and the murders were “horrible” and “clearly based on antisemitism.”
- Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, informed reporters that the two casualties were a young couple who were getting engaged.
WASHINGTON — Two personnel from the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., were fatally shot outside an event at a Jewish Museum in the capital, according to police reports on Wednesday.
Shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, during an event hosted by the pro-Israel lobbying organization American Jewish Committee at a local Jewish Museum in downtown D.C., a man was seen “pacing back and forth” outside the building, as reported by Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith.
A man approached a group of four individuals and then discharged his weapon, according to Smith. Officials reported that two individuals, a man and a woman in a romantic relationship, were deceased. Subsequently, the assailant entered the museum and was apprehended by event security, according to Smith.
“The suspect chanted ‘Free, free Palestine’ while in custody,” said Smith. The culprit has been provisionally identified by police as Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 30. According to Smith, he had no known past run-ins with the law.
The fatalities were “a couple about to be engaged,” according to Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States. “The young man plans to pop the question to his love in Jerusalem the following week, so he bought a ring this week. A lovely pair arrived to spend the evening at the cultural centre in Washington.
The ambassador said that President Trump had called him. Leiter claimed that the president assured him that the White House will take “everything they can possibly do to fight and end anti-Semitism.”
Less than a mile from the US Capitol, in downtown Washington, the shooting occurred outside the Capital Jewish Museum. According to a statement from the American Jewish Committee, a Jewish lobbying organisation that supports Israel, the museum hosted an event on Wednesday night.
“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” Ted Deutch, the CEO of the group, told NPR in another statement. “Our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”
Following the massacre in Washington, DC, Israeli leaders launched an outcry and offered condolences
Photo Courtesy by NDTV WORLD
Following the massacre in Washington, DC, Israeli leaders launched an outcry and offered condolences
Following a shooting Wednesday night at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, that claimed the lives of two Israeli Embassy staff, Israeli officials voiced their shock and sorrow.
After the incident, Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared that the United States and Israel “will stand united in defence of our people and our shared values.”
In a statement posted on X, Herzog said, “I am devastated by the scenes in Washington, DC.” “This is a heinous act of antisemitism and hatred that has taken the lives of two young Israeli embassy employees.”
“Our immediate prayers are with the injured, and our hearts are with the loved ones of those who were murdered. I offer the Ambassador and every member of the embassy my utmost support. The Israeli president’s statement said, “We stand with the Jewish community in Washington, DC, and throughout the United States.”
“Israel will not give in to terrorism,” stated Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
In a statement posted on X, Sa’ar wrote, “Bad news this morning with the shocking terrorist attack, in which two employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington were murdered.”
Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, told the minister that “an intensive investigation is underway” and offered his condolences after speaking with Sa’ar.
Trump offers his condolences to the families of the two Israeli Embassy employees that were assassinated in Washington, DC.
Trump offers his condolences to the families of the two Israeli Embassy employees that were assassinated in Washington, DC.
from Samantha Waldenberg of CNN.
In his initial remarks following the shooting on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump expressed his sympathies to the families of the two Israeli Embassy employees who perished close to the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
“These terrible murders in D.C., which are clearly motivated by antisemitism, must stop immediately! The USA is not a place for radicalism or hatred. Sending condolences to the victims’ families. How tragic that such occurrences can occur! In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote, “May God bless you all.”
