Faith leaders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser oversaw the reopening of the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday, a week after a gunman shot and killed two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the building in what has been widely characterized as an antisemitic attack.
The mayor joined Jewish rabbis and community figures in remembering Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram, a young couple who were days away from being engaged when a suspect gunned them down, then told authorities he did it “for Palestine” and “for Gaza.”
Metropolitan Police arrested 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez for the May 21 shooting. Court documents said the suspect chanted “Free, free Palestine” as officers were arresting him.
“Last week’s antisemitic attack cannot be our last chapter, so we reopen today, and we dare ourselves to honor Yaron and Sarah and their commitment to repairing the world and building bridges for all of you as we go forward in fulfilling that mission,” Beatrice Gurwitz, the executive director of the Capital Jewish Museum, said Thursday.
Lischinsky, 30, was an Israeli citizen in the U.S. on state business, and Milgram, 26, was originally from Kansas. Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli Embassy and Ms. Milgrim helped organize U.S. mission trips to the Jewish nation.
Officials said Lischinsky had bought a ring and planned to propose to Milgram during an upcoming trip to Jerusalem. They were leaving an event at the museum when the gunman approached the two and opened fire.
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, one of the leaders at Adas Israel synagogue in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, read scripture about God mending broken hearts and leading people from darkness into light.
Sue Stoloff, the president of the American Jewish Committee’s branch in the D.C. area, said the heated rhetoric against Jews is factoring into the violence.
“This is what ’Globalize the Intifada’ means,” Ms. Stoloff said. “It means that you, or you, or you get shot and killed leaving this building right now because you are simply in a Jewish institution.”
Ms. Bowser said, “It’s up to all of us to denounce antisemitism in all forms.”
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the deadly shooting as another instance of anti-Jewish hate, which has been on the rise since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas, an Islamic terror group, killed more than 1,200 civilians in southern Israel and took 250 hostage during its raid.
Israel’s counterattack on the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-governed enclave from where the Islamist terrorist group launched the attacks, has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and prompted accusations in left-wing circles worldwide of genocide.
The Jewish state vehemently denies that claim, which it calls antisemitic.
Mr. Rodriguez, a self-identified Marxist who has been involved in anti-Israel groups and other far-left causes, allegedly penned a manifesto that frequently refers to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas as a “genocide.”
The author also writes about taking “armed action” and how resorting to deadly force is “the only sane thing to do.”
An X account reportedly connected to Mr. Rodriguez made posts such as “Escalate for Gaza, Bring the War Home” on the day of the shooting.
In 2024, the account also posted “Happy New Year, Death To Israel,” and shortly after Mr. Trump’s victory in November, published a post that said, “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Hamas.”
Federal investigators are working to bring hate and terrorism charges against the suspect.
He is being held behind bars on charges of first-degree murder, murder of a foreign official and various weapons felonies.
Mr. Rodriguez is due back in court on June 18.
