The Washington D.C. Shooting Was Preventable

On May 21, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were murdered outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Both were young Israeli diplomats. Their killer, Elias Rodriguez, fired over twenty rounds. Video footage shows Milgrim trying to crawl away before Rodriguez shot her again. During his arrest, he shouted, “Free Palestine.”

Rodriguez had written a document titled Escalate for Gaza, Bring the War Home. His actions were intentional, and they were political. He believed he was acting in defense of Gaza, even though neither Milgrim nor Lischinsky had any role in Israeli military decisions. The fact that he felt justified murdering Israeli civilians on American soil is the direct result of how antisemitism has been normalized in public discourse since the October 7th attacks.

Over the past 19 months, there has been a clear pattern: anti-Israel activists have increasingly crossed the line from protest to harassment, from free speech to open threats, and from activism to violence. 

At Columbia, Jewish students were told they support genocide. At UCLA, mobs physically blocked Jewish students from campus. In Cooper Union, students were trapped in a library while protesters banged on the doors and windows. No one was held accountable. Those events were treated as part of the “debate” over Gaza, when in reality they were evidence that hate against Jews has been steadily rising—and barely being addressed.

This week’s shooting didn’t come out of nowhere. It followed months of rallies in major U.S. cities where Hamas slogans were chanted. It followed university encampments that flew terrorist group flags. It followed op-eds in the New York Times defending Hamas as “resistance” and accusing Israel of genocide. When leaders, news outlets, and academic institutions refuse to draw a moral line between protest and incitement, it sends a signal. That signal was received.

Rodriguez didn’t attack the Israeli embassy. He didn’t target military officials. He murdered two peaceful civilians outside a Jewish museum. His attack wasn’t about Gaza–it was about hate.

Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and others have repeatedly spread false narratives about Israel without ever acknowledging the role of Hamas or the October 7th massacre. Bernie Sanders has downplayed Hamas atrocities while accusing Israel of collective punishment. These public figures may not support violence directly, but when they exaggerate, omit facts, and paint Israel as the sole aggressor, they feed a narrative that justifies violence.

The Biden administration has also failed to act decisively. Federal agencies have been slow to respond to antisemitic threats on campuses. The Department of Education waited months before investigating obvious Title VI violations. The former President himself rarely addressed antisemitism with the urgency it demands. When antisemitic speech is allowed to fester, and when those responsible face no consequences, extremist actors like Rodriguez begin to believe that violent action is acceptable.

The responsibility of this shooting also lies with the institutions and public figures who allowed antisemitic rhetoric to go unchecked. It lies with university presidents who refused to remove protesters calling for intifada. It lies with media outlets that continue to distort coverage of the war, portraying Israel as the aggressor while ignoring the role of Hamas.

Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky should have been safe. They were not soldiers. They were not politicians. They were young professionals working in diplomacy—the kind of people who are supposed to be protected, not targeted, in Washington, D.C.

America prides itself on being a country where people are free to speak, believe, and live without fear. But Jewish Americans are now seeing that promise being selectively applied. In many places, Jews cannot walk on campus, attend events, or speak openly without fear of being shouted down or worse. 

Stopping this violence requires more than vague condemnations. Leaders must act. Protests that turn threatening must be shut down—as the Trump administration is already doing. Members of Congress who spread blood libels against Israel should be held accountable by their parties. Universities that allow hate speech under the banner of political expression should face funding consequences. The standard must be clear: speech that incites violence has no protection.

The murders of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were not just tragic. They were the end result of a failure—a failure to confront antisemitism when it became too politically uncomfortable to acknowledge.