Editorial Board
Two Zionist staff members of the Israeli Embassy were killed outside of the Capital Jewish Museum around 9pm Wednesday (5/21) in Washington DC. The executed Zionists have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky, a diplomatic staffer, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, an American employee of the Israeli Embassy. The couple planned to get engaged in occupied Jerusalem (al Quds) next week. The reactionary monopoly media has already proclaimed the targeting of the Zionists to be an “antisemitic” attack.
A man identified by law enforcement as Elias Rodriguez, of Chicago, was apprehended at the scene. According to the monopoly media, Rodriguez produced a Palestinian Keffeyeh, the symbol of cultural identity and resistance of the Palestinian people, and was reported to have shouted “free free Palestine” as well as other anti-imperialist slogans in support of the Palestinian people as he was being captured.
According to the Zionist media outlet Jerusalem Post, Rodriguez “is a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation” (PSL). The revisionist organization denied that Rodriguez is a member. “Elias Rodriguez is not a member of PSL,” the organization posted on X, “we have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.” While it is clear that Rodriguez has a history of left-wing activism, Jerusalem Post provides no evidence of his membership in the PSL aside from a now deleted article appearing on Liberation News from 2017 in which he is quoted as a member. This angle has been picked up by numerous far-right publications.
Antisemitism or targeting of the Zionist state?
No evidence has been provided that the suspected shooter harbored any animosity towards the Jewish faith or culture. All claims of antisemitism provided by the politicians and monopoly media outlets rely purely on the established Zionist strategy of conflating all opposition to Zionism and the genocides it carries out with antisemitism, which is itself a crime against the Jewish people.
The event which the targeted Israeli Embassy staff were attending was not as it has been portrayed in the monopoly media. In reality, the event was organized to bring Jewish educators together with Israeli diplomats and diplomatic staff, with a clear agenda of increasing Zionist influence on college campuses as part of the low-intensity warfare against the Palestine solidarity movement—which includes many pro-Palestinian Jewish organizations. The event was organized by the Zionist front organization American Jewish Committee, which describes itself as “dedicated to connecting global leaders to Israel.”
Will this kind of solidarity get the desired results?
Legitimacy of the targets by Palestinian resistance or those in solidarity with it has been established by the fact of who was targeted and who they served—by the fact that the event was part of and in service to US imperialist and Zionists interests in the genocide of Palestinians and the occupation of Palestine. This is sure to garner support for the accused as a political actor and political prisoner.
Tactically, such acts of individual terror do not increase the class consciousness of the people; they cannot stand the test of time as isolated events nor build strong and durable anti-imperialist resistance in the US. In fact, such activity goes far ahead of what the solidarity movement is at this time capable of sustaining and so they offer the wrong type of solidarity. As The Worker published in a recent opinion: “Palestine will be liberated by the Palestinians, gun in hand, and not by acts of adventurism on US campuses”. The fact that this occurred off campus in no way invalidates the viewpoint.
Just as there is no evidence at this time to support the claim that the accused holds current membership in PSL, there is no evidence to support that he was acting under the command of any Palestinian Resistance Organization. Without proof that the act was carried out as part of the abroad work of the resistance, it is only indicated that the—albeit courageous—individual took matters upon himself, in a fast escalation lacking long-term organizational strategy.
A long-term organizational strategy can only be accomplished by a durable nationwide anti-imperialist organization in service of the people; this is where revolutionaries must place their activity and priorities. Armed propaganda can only properly serve its purpose when it is carried out by a durable organization. The masses must be mobilized to combat and resist US imperialism and their Zionist lackeys here in the world’s sole-hegemonic imperialist superpower and this is not a question of individual acts but a question of organization.
Understanding tactics is part of the long-term struggle to end not only the occupation of Palestine but imperialism itself. Even so, Rodriguez is now a political prisoner of the Palestinian cause, accused of having acted in a defiant manner against the genocide of the Palestinian people, which without question conjures the need for political campaigns to free him.
Since the time of this writing the story has developed—check back for upcoming further reporting.
Image: Lischinsky and Milgrim, Ynet
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