‘Must End NOW!’ Trump Responds to Killings of Israeli Embassy Staffers in D.C.

AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump responded to the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

At around 9:15, a suspect identified by Metropolitan Police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, allegedly shot and killed two embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum. The museum was hosting the annual Young Diplomats Reception put on by the American Jewish Committee’s DC Young Professional Board.

“The suspect chanted, ‘Free, free Palestine’ while in custody,” according to D.C. Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!”

The president’s comment echoed those of Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, who also blamed anti-Semitism.

“The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. – in which Israeli embassy employees were also injured – is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism,” he wrote on X. “Harming diplomats and the Jewish community is crossing a red line.”

Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said Trump called him shortly after the shooting. Trump, according to Leiter, said he would do “everything they can possibly do to fight and end anti-semitism.”

“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” the group’s CEO, Ted Deutch, said in a statement. “Our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”

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