Israel accuses world of anti-Semitic incitement

Israelis were shocked and horrified yesterday by the murder of two members of staff at the Israeli embassy in Washington, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "horrific anti-Semitic murder."

Two Israeli embassy employees were shot dead by a gunman in Washington on Wednesday evening as they were leaving an event at the Jewish Museum, about 2 kilometers from the White House.

The victims, Jaron Lisinski and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were a young couple planning an engagement, and according to people who knew them and the organizations they belonged to, they were dedicated to building bridges between Arabs and Jews in the hope of helping to end the bloodshed in the Middle East.

Israeli embassies around the world immediately increased security measures, Reuters reported.

The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, shouted "Freedom for Palestine, freedom for Palestine" after he was arrested, said Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith.

Rodriguez was previously affiliated with the far-left Chicago group, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), according to the organization's posting on the X network. The group said Rodriguez had briefly worked with a branch of the PSL, but that relationship was severed in 2017, and they have had no contact with him for more than seven years.

"We have nothing to do with this attack and do not support it," the organization said.

The attack came as Israel faces growing international isolation over its escalating military campaign against Hamas fighters in Gaza, where it has cut off aid deliveries despite warnings of famine and reduced much of the territory to rubble.

Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister, called the attack the result of "toxic anti-Semitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world" since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.

He blamed critics of the Israeli government from international organizations and foreign government officials, "especially from Europe," who have accused Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza.

France yesterday rejected comments accusing European officials of anti-Semitic incitement. “France has condemned, condemns and will continue to condemn always and without hesitation all anti-Semitic acts,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said at a regular Sunday press conference, adding that the comments were “unjustified and scandalous.”

Israel has recently faced a wave of criticism from Europe over its intensified military campaign in Gaza, where humanitarian organizations warn that an eleven-week Israeli blockade of aid deliveries has brought the Palestinian enclave to the brink of famine.

Israel launched an offensive on Gaza after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1.200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's ground and air offensive has since displaced almost all of Gaza's 2,3 million residents and killed more than 53.000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Netanyahu said yesterday that his heart was broken for the families of the victims, “whose lives were cut short by a despicable anti-Semitic murderer.” “We are witnessing the terrible cost of anti-Semitism and the savage hatred directed against the state of Israel,” he wrote on the X network, adding that both “must be fought to the end.”

The attack, according to Reuters, is likely to further deepen divisions in the United States over the war in Gaza, between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters.

Conservative supporters of Israel, led by US President Donald Trump, have branded the pro-Palestinian protests as anti-Semitic. His administration has arrested protesters without charge and cut funding to elite American universities that allowed the protests to take place.

Trump condemned the shooting. “These horrific killings in Washington, D.C., clearly motivated by anti-Semitism, must stop, now,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “Hate and radicalism have no place in the United States.”

Felix Klein, the German government's commissioner for combating anti-Semitism, said there was reason to fear that the shooting in Washington could inspire imitations "even on our streets." "As a society, we should therefore remain vigilant, and security measures for Jewish institutions in Germany should also be stepped up," Klein told the newspapers of the FUNKE media group.

France's interior minister has sent a letter to local authorities across the country stating that security should be stepped up in places associated with the Jewish community, such as synagogues, and that these measures should be "visible and deterrent."

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government fully supported the Israeli embassy in London. “We, of course, call for these restrictions (on humanitarian aid to Gaza) to be lifted... but that can in no way be an excuse for anti-Semitism or attacks like this,” the spokesman said.

The attack in Washington, as reported by the New York Times, has sparked a wave of recriminations among Israeli politicians, many of whom were quick to accuse their opponents of being indirectly responsible for the anti-Israel climate they say led to the shooting. Some claim that Netanyahu's policies are fueling anti-Israel sentiment abroad, while others have placed the blame on critics on the left.

Yair Golan, leader of the left-leaning Democratic Party, accused Netanyahu's right-wing government, which has promised to take full control of Gaza, of "inciting anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel." "The result is unprecedented political isolation and danger for every Jew in every corner of the world," Golan said in a statement.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, suggested that left-wing politicians who oppose the war, like Golan, encouraged Wednesday’s attack by making statements critical of Israeli policies. He referred to Golan’s statement this week, in which Golan said Israeli forces were “killing babies for fun” in Gaza. “The blood of the victims is on their hands,” Ben-Gvir wrote on social media.

American Jewish Committee Director Ted Deutsch told CNN that the Jewish community around the world feels threatened. Some Israelis said the shooting has scared them and they are now afraid to travel abroad.

Human rights advocates point out that both anti-Semitism and hatred of Arabs have increased in the US.

Among the incidents were a failed attack on a Jewish center in New York, arson at the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and attacks on businesses in Florida believed to support Israel.

Incidents linked to prejudice against Palestinians include the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois, the attempted strangulation of a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl in Texas, an attack by a pro-Israeli mob in New York City chanting "Death to the Arabs," and a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California.

France yesterday rejected comments accusing European officials of anti-Semitic incitement