RSS
Accused DC Shooter Elias Rodriguez Idolized Man Who Set Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy: Court Documents
Elias Rodriguez, 30, from Chicago, taken into custody by police for allegedly shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
The suspect who allegedly murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night expressed admiration for a man who set himself on fire outside the embassy last year to protest the war in Gaza, according to newly released court documents.
Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old left-wing and anti-Israel activist from Chicago, was charged on Thursday in US federal court with two counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of fatally shooting Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, a young couple about to become engaged to be married, as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum for young professionals and diplomatic staff hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
In addition to murder, Rodriguez was charged in a criminal complaint with murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm, and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.
An affidavit filed by US federal authorities in support of the criminal complaint charging Rodriguez revealed that he said at the scene of the shooting, “I did it for Palestine; I did it for Gaza.” He also chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine” after being taken into custody, according to video of the incident.
The court document also explained that Rodriguez told law enforcement that he idolized Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the US Air Force who died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, in February 2024. Bushnell was protesting Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. He said in a video of the incident that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and chanted “Free Palestine” while pouring liquid over himself and igniting it.
“During an interview with MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] detectives, after having been advised of his Miranda rights and after waiving them, Rodriguez expressed admiration for the actions of an individual who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, on Feb. 25, 2024, as a form of protest intended to draw attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the affidavit stated. “Rodriguez described this person’s actions as courageous and labeled him a ‘martyr.’”
As Jewish communities worldwide deal with the shock of Wednesday night’s shooting, details have emerged about Rodriguez showing he has maintained ties to extremist left-wing groups and held virulent anti-Israel views.
Rodriguez was involved with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a far-left organization that has previously called for the “extermination” of all Zionists, according to a review of his history and information obtained by The Algemeiner.
The Chicago chapter of PSL has routinely called for violence and “armed resistance” against Israel. The organization declares that Israel is an “apartheid state” and a result of “settler-colonialism,” while venerating Hamas as a legitimate “resistance.” PSL has also expressed open support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist group, and has hosted reading sessions of works penned by PFLP founder Ghassan Kanafani.
PSL holds large rallies in which attendees openly endorse terrorism against the Jewish state and call for its elimination. Earlier this month, PSL joined a coalition of other far-left organizations to hold a protest outside of the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, PSL organized an event titled “Gaza Fights for Freedom.” Additionally, PSL Chicago partnered with several prominent anti-Israel organizations, such as the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), and the Palestine Feminist Collective.
In the aftermath of Wednesday night’s shooting, PSL has attempted to distance itself from Rodriguez, claiming that the alleged murderer is only associated with the group in a limited capacity and does not currently hold a membership. However, in an April 2025 picture posted to Facebook, a person resembling Rodriguez participated in a “Socialist Reconstruction Study Group” workshop hosted by PSL.
“Through collective study, we mapped the contradictions of US foreign policy and discussed tactics to organize within the imperial core,” the group said of the gathering. “By understanding imperialism’s motivations, we explored the revolutionary possibilities that emerge in its wake — and how to build that future now, through concrete struggle.”
Rodriguez is also suspected to have maintained an anonymous X/Twitter account, in which he called for violence against Israel. The account, named “kyodo.leather,” was started just two weeks after the Oct. 7 slaughters in Israel. It endorsed a video calling to “bomb Tel Aviv” and praised the conduct of the Hamas terrorist group. The social media account also allegedly shared videos glorifying Hasan Nasrallah, the now-deceased leader of Hezbollah, another Islamist terrorist organization.
Early Thursday, investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein published a manifesto allegedly belonging to Rodriguez. In the 900-word document, Rodriguez seemingly confirms that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war motivated him to act.
“A word about the morality of armed demonstration. Those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity,” Rodriguez allegedly wrote. “I sympathize with this viewpoint and understand its value in soothing the psyche which cannot bear to accept the atrocities it witnesses, even mediated through the screen. But inhumanity has long since shown itself to be shockingly common, mundane, prosaically human. A perpetrator may then be a loving parent, a filial child, a generous and charitable friend, an amiable stranger, capable of moral strength at times when it suits him and sometimes even when it does not, and yet be a monster all the same. Humanity doesn’t exempt one from accountability.”
The post Accused DC Shooter Elias Rodriguez Idolized Man Who Set Himself on Fire Outside Israeli Embassy: Court Documents first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel’s Supreme Court Orders Improved Food for Security Prisoners
Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday instructed the Prison Service (Shabas) to guarantee adequate food supplies for security prisoners, ruling that current conditions fall short of minimum legal standards. The decision followed an appeal filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
In a 2–1 ruling, the court found that the food situation posed “a risk of non-compliance with legal standards.” Justice Dafna Barak-Erez stressed that the matter concerned “basic conditions necessary for survival, as required by law,” not comfort or privilege. Justice Ofer Grosskopf agreed, noting the state had not shown the policy was consistently applied to all inmates.
Justice David Mintz dissented, maintaining that the existing policy already met legal requirements.
The court underscored that Israel’s legal obligations remain binding, even in light of the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza and the fact that many of the prisoners include Hamas members involved in the October 7, 2023 attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ruling, arguing that while hostages in Gaza lack protection, “terrorist murderers, kidnappers, and rapists in prison” benefit from the Court’s intervention. He added that prisoners would continue receiving only the minimum conditions required by law.
RSS
Ukrainian Government Building Set Ablaze in Record Russian Airstrike
Illustrative. More damage caused by the Russian drone that hit the Perlina school in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo: Jewish community JCC in Kyiv, Kyiv municipality, and Yan Dobronosov
i24 News – The Ukrainian government’s main building in Kyiv was hit overnight Saturday by Russian airstrikes for the first time since the war, igniting a fire in the building, authorities said. Firefighters are working to put out the flames.
“The government building was damaged by an enemy attack — the roof and upper floors,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said. The blaze is is burning in the area of the office of the prime minister.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight on Ukraine — a record number since the start of the war.
Also as a result of the strike, a baby and a young woman were killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the Svyatoshynsky district, also in Kyiv. Rescuers are still looking for a third body, authorities said. A woman was also reported killed in the strike in Novopavlivka village.
“The world must respond to this destruction not only with words, but also with actions. We need to increase sanctions pressure – primarily against Russian oil and gas. We need new restrictions that will hit the Kremlin’s military machine. And most importantly, Ukraine needs weapons. Something that will stop the terror and prevent Russia from trying to kill Ukrainians every day,” wrote Sviridenko after the attack.
RSS
‘Trump’s Legacy Crumbles’: Israelis Call on US President to End Gaza War
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, issuing direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to force an end to the Gaza war and secure the release of the hostages.
Protesters packed a public square outside the military headquarters, waving Israeli flags and holding placards with images of the hostages. Some carried signs, including one that read: ‘Trump’s legacy crumbles as the Gaza war persists.’
Another said: “PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAVE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
“We think that Trump is the only man in the world who has authority over Bibi, that can force Bibi to do this,” said Tel Aviv resident Boaz, 40, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
There is growing despair among many Israelis at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has ordered the military to capture a major urban center where hostages may be held.
Families of the hostages and their supporters fear the assault on Gaza City could endanger their loved ones, a concern the military leadership shares, according to Israeli officials.
Orna Neutra, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed on October 7, 2023 and whose body is being held in Gaza by militants, accused the government of abandoning its citizens.
“We truly hope that the United States will push both sides to finally reach a comprehensive deal that will bring them home,” she told the rally. Her son, Omer, is also American.
Tel Aviv has witnessed weekly demonstrations that have grown in size, with protesters demanding that the government secure a ceasefire with Hamas to obtain the release of hostages. Organizers said Saturday night’s rally was attended by tens of thousands. A large demonstration was also held in Jerusalem.
There are 48 hostages held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive. Palestinian terrorists abducted 251 people from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led its attack. Most of the hostages who have been released were freed after indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
NO PURPOSE
Trump had pledged a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but nearly eight months into his second term, a resolution has remained elusive. On Friday, he said that Washington was engaged in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas.
Israeli forces have carried out heavy strikes on the suburbs of Gaza City, where, according to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israeli officials acknowledge that hunger exists in Gaza but deny that the territory is facing famine. On Saturday, the military warned civilians in Gaza City to leave and move to southern Gaza.
There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in the city that was home to around a million before the war.
A video released by Hamas on Friday featured Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, saying that he was being held in Gaza City and feared being killed by the military’s assault on the city. Rights groups have condemned such videos of hostages as inhumane. Israel says that it is psychological warfare.
The war has become unpopular among some segments of Israeli society, and opinion polls show that most Israelis want Netanyahu’s right-wing government to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas that secures the release of the hostages.
“The war has no purpose at all, except for violence and death,” said Boaz from Tel Aviv. Adam, 48, said it had become obvious that soldiers were being sent to war for “nothing.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it launched its retaliatory war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed in that attack on southern Israel.
The terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but today controls only parts of the enclave, on Saturday once again said that it would release all hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu is pushing for an all-or-nothing deal that would see all of the hostages released at once and Hamas surrendering.
The prime minister has said Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel led to the war.
Hamas has acknowledged it would no longer govern Gaza once the war ends but has refused to discuss laying down its weapons.