The slaughter of two Israeli Embassy staffers at a Washington, DC, Jewish museum demonstrates political violence is the “eighth front” of Israel’s war efforts, the country’s ambassador to the US declared Thursday.
“This is done in the name of a political agenda to eradicate the state of Israel,” Yechiel Leiter told reporters outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were gunned down as they left an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
The alleged gunman, left-wing activist Elias Rodriguez, 31, shouted “Free, free Palestine” after killing the soon-to-be engaged couple, according to authorities.
“The state of Israel is now fighting a war on seven fronts. This is the eighth front,” Leiter said.
Describing the latest battlefront as the effort to counter “the war to demonize, delegitimize and to eradicate the right of the state of Israel to exist.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted in remarks last October that the Jewish State was “defending itself” from “enemies of civilization” on seven fronts.
Netanyahu listed the war in Gaza against Hamas; fighting in Lebanon against Hezbollah; conflicts with militants in the West Bank; attacks from the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria; and countering Iran as the seven fronts.
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” the prime minister said.
The ambassador indicated that the “together” the US and Israel will “defeat this anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism, which parades around as something and along the lines of freedom-seeking.”
“This is not freedom-seeking,” Leiter continued. “Hamas is a death cult. They declared war on behalf of Iran and a ring of fire in order to eradicate us.”
“And this individual here last night was an extension of that ring of fire.”
Leiter later linked Rodriguez’s “free, free Palestine” chant with the anti-Israel slogans shouted at college campuses during nationwide protests last year.
Follow The Post’s coverage on Israeli Embassy staffers killed in DC
- What we know about Elias Rodriguez, terror suspect accused of killing two Israeli Embassy staffers in DC
- Israeli Embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim ID’d as couple fatally shot by terrorist who yelled ‘Free, free Palestine’ near DC’s Capital Jewish Museum
- Suspected terrorist in Israeli Embassy killings shouts ‘Free, free Palestine’ — as witnesses describe helping him before realizing he was the killer
- Cops probing anti-Israel manifesto allegedly written by terror suspect Elias Rodriguez ahead of DC Jewish Museum shooting: sources
- Gunned-down Israeli Embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim worked on peace-building between Palestinians and Israelis, her grieving father says: ‘That’s the irony’
“The big picture is very important for us to understand,” the ambassador told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier.
“‘Free, free Palestine’ is part of the chant that was heard across universities all across the country,” Leiter noted, describing the call as an “eliminationist demand.”
“If we’re talking about the big picture, the outrage here is that we have international leaders like, you know, the president of France [Emmanuel Macron] trying to press for an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state,” the diplomat told Baier.
“So [Macron’s] fueling these chants, of the likes of this Elias Rodriguez, who thinks that he’s going to implement that eliminationist policy regarding Israel by shooting Jews here in Washington,” the ambassador argued.
Leiter knew both victims of the attack well, describing Lischinsky, 28, and Milgrim, 26, as a “beautiful young couple.”
The ambassador noted that Lischinsky worked “just a few doors away” from his office and was “young, bright, busy, and just a pleasure to have around.”
He said Milgrim was “sunshine,” and that “she would walk into the room with her smile and red hair, and she would just light up the room.”
“Together, they were the perfect couple.”
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