ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Israeli embassy staff members were shot and killed by a gunman in Washington DC on Wednesday. A suspect has been taken into custody. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered heightened security at all Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide, as US and Israeli officials have condemned the attack as antisemitic.
In a statement posted on X, Israeli embassy Spokesperson Tal Naim Cohen said that the staffers were shot “at close range while attending a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC.”
“We have full faith in law enforcement authorities on both the local and federal levels to apprehend the shooter and protect Israel’s representatives and Jewish communities throughout the United States,” Cohen added.
The gunman, identified by police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, was taken into custody after shouting “Free, free Palestine” during the attack, police said.
At a press conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith confirmed that the suspect was held in custody and that his firearm has been retrieved. She noted that the attacker had been seen pacing outside the museum, located near the FBI’s field office and about two kilometers from the White House.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was quick to slam the incident as “an abhorrent antisemitic murder,” and directed “that security be increased at Israeli missions around the world and for the state's representatives,” his office said in a statement on X.
Expressing outrage over the killing of the “young couple who were due to become engaged,” Netanyahu aid, “We are witness to the terrible cost of antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel,” adding, “Blood libels against Israel have a cost in blood and must be fought to the utmost.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar labeled the shooting as a “terrorist attack,” noting that “Israeli representatives around the world are constantly exposed to heightened risk - especially in these times.”
“We are in close contact with American authorities. Israel will not surrender to terror,” Sa’ar added in a statement he posted on X.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the fatal attack as “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”
“Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” he added in a post on X, expressing confidence that “US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act.”
“Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives - everywhere in the world,” Danon concluded.
For his part, US President Donald Trump slammed the “horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism.”
“Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA,” Trump stressed in a post he shared on his social media platform, Truth Social.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the condemnation, calling the attack “a brazen act of cowardly, antisemitic violence.”
“Make no mistake: we will track down those responsible and bring them to justice,” Rubio stated in a post on X.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem confirmed that investigations are ongoing.
“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” adding, “We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice,” Noem vowed in a post on X.
