Alleged shooter of Israeli Embassy staffers called for retaliation against Israel over Gaza: report

The Chicago man charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting Wednesday night of a Jewish couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., appears to have an online history of left-wing activism and pro-Palestinian support.

Elias Rodriguez, the man charged with the shooting of staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum told police after his arrest: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to court filings obtained by the Associated Press.

He lived in an apartment in Chicago, worked as an administrative assistant at a medical trade group and apparently had no criminal record.

One online post that appears to be his is a video from an October 2023 protest in Chicago against U.S. aid to Israel. 

The X account posted less than an hour after the Wednesday night shooting, “Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home,” along with screen grabs of an essay signed with Rodriguez’s name. It is unknown if Rodriguez, who had been arrested by then, scheduled the post ahead of time or if someone else posted it for him.

In the essay, Rodriguez mentioned the mounting death toll in Gaza, saying Israel “had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead, which has served its genocide well.”

He wrote that, about 11 years ago, he “personally became acutely aware of our brutal conduct in Palestine.” He attempted to justify “the morality of armed demonstration,” adding, “those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity.”

“The atrocities committed by Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification,” Rodriguez wrote. “We who let this happen will never deserve the Palestinians’ forgiveness.”