TThe murder of two staff of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC on Wednesday evening is unacceptable. The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, should be alive and justice must be inflicted on their attacker. This cheeky act of political violence at the heart of the national capital only underlines the evidence: all this violence – whether in Washington DC, Gaza, Jenin or Israel, and whether by ball, bomb or forced famine – all of this must end, and it must end immediately.
What we know so far is that shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday evening, a shooter approached a group of four people who left an event with capital Jewish Museum who had been organized by the American Jewish Committee. (It has been reported that the event “focused on the contribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Israeli-Palestinian and regional collaboration”.) The suspicious shooter, identified in media accounts like Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, had been seen by rhythms outside the museum when he spotted the group of four. He opened fire on the group, fatally injuring two at close range. He then entered the building, where he was held by the safety of events. It can be seen on a handcuffed video and singing “free and free Palestine”.
Needless to say, criminal actions like this reprehensible murder do not advance the cause of the Palestinian liberation or the freedom of anyone. This stupid and horrible act must be opposed not only to its immorality, but also because the world must focus on Israel’s pressure to end its Gaza blocking and allow the flow of humanitarian aid on the besieged territory before the tens of thousands of Palestinians – including 14,000 babies, according to the United Nations – die from forced starvation in the coming days.
Already, the Israeli government uses murder to stir the finger on the criticism of Israel and deviation of its own actions. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli Foreign Minister, blamed “leaders and officials from many countries and international organizations, in particular Europe” for prompting violence against Israel, incentive which, according to him, led “in a direct line … to this murder”.
The idea that European leaders are directly responsible for this heinous murder is simply ridiculous, of course. But that shows how nervous the Israeli government is about a new wave of criticism against its assault against Gaza. Earlier, on May 21, the British Development Minister Jenny Chapman told BBC that Israel “uses hunger as a weapon of war” in Gaza. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Lammy, also called Israel’s planned military climbing “morally unjustifiable, completely disproportionate and completely counterproductive”, and Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, recently declared that Great Britain “did not allow the inhabitants of Gaza to play” and that the levels of suffering in Gaza were “completely intolerable”.
In addition, the United Kingdom has suspended free trade talks with Israel, and EU foreign ministers examine the European Union’s trade agreement with Israel for its blockage of food, water, medicine and other supplies necessary for the survival of the Gazans. Although these actions are welcome, they are also too little, too late. And despite a partial embargo of weapons in the United Kingdom in Israel, the British government has always approved licenses for 127.6 million pounds of military equipment in Israel, more than the total combined for 2020-2023, according to the group’s campaign against the arms trade.
In other words, violence intensifies, activated in part because those who wear Israel continue to do so. It also develops, and not only in the streets of Washington DC. Consider what happened the same day as the tragic murder of the staff of the Israeli Embassy. A delegation of diplomats representing 31 countries was on an official mission to observe the humanitarian situation in the city of Jenin of the West Bank, which has also been supported by Israel for 120 days. The Israeli army drew towards the delegation of diplomats and later said that the group had “deflected road”.
Once upon a time, being a diplomat meant that you received a certain security, but it was moments when we, perhaps naively, believed that there were rules governing war. What do we have now? Shoots fired while the diplomats perform their jobs. Food used as a weapon of war. Young members of the Embassy staff are murdered in public.
This murder must end. We all know that, just as we have to start with an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the return of all the captives taken on October 7 and after, and the complete recovery of the aid to Gaza. The details of what is happening in the medium and long term, for Israelis and Palestinians, can and must be forged by an honest dialogue and not by mass movement and the extermination of the Palestinian people.
But rather than taking this lesson into account, we will probably see in the coming days a total push to discredit those who oppose the Israeli military campaign, which has been qualified as genocide by several international human rights organizations, among others. The Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister has already started. During his press conference, Sa’ar said it was the speech that Israel was committed “genocide, crimes against humanity and the murder of babies” which “paved (s) exactly for murders” who occurred in Washington DC.
But genocide, crimes against humanity and killed babies occur, and millions of people indicate their strong opposition to Israeli actions without resorting to murderous political violence. In fact, this is exactly what we have to do, and we have to do it now, stronger and stronger than ever, before this violence grows and spreads further, consuming even more innocent lives on its monstrous path.
