Left wing terrorism in America: How a socialist ‘Black Lives Matter’ supporter was so radicalised by his leftist ideology that he killed 2 Jews in cold blood ‘for Palestine’

In a tragic event, two Jewish Israeli staff members employed at the embassy of Israel in Washington DC were killed on Wednesday (21st May) when they were returning after attending a cultural event at the Jewish Museum. The duo were supposed to get engaged in a week.

The murderer, identified as Elias Rodriguez (30), reportedly shouted ‘Free Palestine’ slogans before shooting the victims at a close range. The victims have been identified as Sarah Milgrim and her fiancé Yaron Lischinsky, both working with the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, and were about to get married soon.

As per reports, Rodriguez kept shouting ‘Free Palestine’ slogans and pulled out a red keffiyah from his bag even as he was being taken into custody after killing the Israeli embassy staff members. “I did it for Gaza,” Rodriguez told the police officers as per report by the New York Times. Ironically, the victims were attending American Jewish Committee’s ACCESS Young Diplomats Reception where the attendees discussed ways to bring more aid into the Gaza Strip.

Elias Rodriguez had a radical leftist ideology

An English graduate from the University of Illinois, Chicago, Rodriguez worked as an oral history researcher at History Makers and was recently working as a Profiles Administration Specialist at the American Osteopathic Information Association.

With no direct connection with Israel or Gaza, Rodriguez’s antisemitic ideology apparently hardened with his involvement in US far-left politics. He was a member of the far-left, pro-Palestine group called the ‘Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)’ which routinely leads protests against Israel and posts hateful anti-Israel content on social media.

According to the New York Post, hours before shooting, the pro-Palestine organisation posted a message on social media that read, “End the genocide. Israel out of Gaza now.” However, a day after the incident, the PSL denied any association with Rodriguez through a social media post.

Rodriguez regularly attended protests for various causes which included Black Lives Matter protests and the protests over Israel-Palestine issue. A 2017 GoFundMe page reportedly revealed that Rodriguez was self-radicalised. The fundraiser aimed to send him to the People’s Congress of Resistance, a leftist gathering in Washington DC, guided by the slogan of “Stand against imperialism — Down with the warfare state!”

On the GoFundMe page, which is said to have been written by Rodriguez, he describes himself as the son of an Army veteran who was deployed in Iraq. On the page, Rodriguez claims that the ‘genocidal war’ in Iraq left a deep impression on his mind.

“When my dad came home from Baghdad, he came with souvenirs. One was a magazine pouch with a warning in Arabic to back away or my dad would shoot and kill you. He joked that the print was so small an Iraqi would be dead long before they had a chance to read it. He also gave me a patch of Iraq’s national flag, one he ripped off of an Iraqi soldier’s uniform because he could. I don’t want to see another generation of Americans coming home from genocidal wars with trophies,” the page reportedly read.

How the Modi government is dealing with the left wing terrorism

Left-wing terrorism has existed in India for decades, enjoying patronage of so-called ‘intellectuals’ and ‘social activists’ purportedly fighting for the rights of the poor. These intellectuals and social activists, popularly known as urban naxals, have been providing cover for the bloodshed carried out by the foot soldiers of their ideology in the name of justice. However, the Modi government has expressed its resolve to completely eradicate Naxal terrorism which has deprived the people, it claimed to fight for, of development and the opportunities to join the mainstream.

In January this year, the Modi government launched Operation Kagar which is a part of its multi-pronged strategy combining aggressive military operations, enhanced coordination between Central and State forces, and development efforts to achieve its target of eradicating naxalism from the country by March 2026. Under this operation, around 1 lakh para-military troops, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite CoBRA units, District Reserve Guards DRG), and state police have been deployed in the left-wing terrorism affected areas.

In a major breakthrough its their operation against naxalism, the security forces eliminated 27 naxal terrorists including dreaded naxal leader Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju, who masterminded the massacres of politicians and security forces. Earlier, the security forces neutralised 31 Naxals carrying a bounty of Rs 1.72 crore, in Operation Black Forest that went on for 21 days from April 21 to May 11.

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