Two Israeli embassy employees murdered in front of the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
On May 21, two Israeli embassy employees were murdered near the Jewish Capital Museum in Washington, DC.
Unbranded – Newsworthy
WASHINGTON – A man accused of killing two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., last year has been charged with four additional terrorism charges in a new indictment unsealed Wednesday, February 4.
The new indictment includes nine previously filed charges, including hate crimes. Some of the charges carry maximum penalties of the death penalty or life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
“These additional terrorism-related charges carry a life sentence under D.C. law and reflect the reality that this act was, in fact, an act of terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement.
Prosecutors accused Elias Rodriguez, 31, of firing at people as they left an event for young professionals and diplomats organized by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights anti-Semitism and supports Israel. Prosecutors said the man fired about 20 shots with a semi-automatic handgun and shouted, “Liberate Palestine!”
Rodriguez’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Yaron Lisinski, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, were killed.
Darren B. Cox, the FBI’s deputy director in charge of the Washington field office, said Rodriguez wrote and released the manifesto in an attempt to “morally justify his actions” and provoke others into political violence.
The shooting incident has been condemned by leaders around the world and comes amid growing polarization, including student protests in the United States over the war in Gaza.
The war was Israel’s response to the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed at least 1,665 Israelis and foreigners. According to the Gaza Health Authority, more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and October 7, 2025.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Donna Bryson and Sonali Paul)
