“After being shot, Sarah Milgrim struggled to crawl away,” wrote Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). “Elias Rodriguez walked over and executed her at point-blank range. This is the antisemitic demon the DSA has chosen to lionize.”
Izzy Salant
(JNS)
The Democratic Socialists of America’s Liberation Caucus on Tuesday praised Elias Rodriguez, 31, the suspected gunman in the killing of Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, in Washington, D.C., and called for Rodriguez’s freedom.
“Elias Rodriguez’s targeted attack on two Israeli diplomatic staff on May 21, 2025, was a legitimate act of resistance against the zionist state and its genocidal campaign in Gaza,” reads the beginning of a statement from the Free Elias Rodriguez Organizing Committee.
The DSA Liberation Caucus wrote that this was an “excellent statement that we are proud to add our name to,” adding “Free Elias Rodriguez and all political prisoners.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), a long proponent of Israel, condemned the DSA—whose members include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—for their “grotesque” statement.
“The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has publicly endorsed the barbaric murder of a young Jewish and Israeli couple,” Torres wrote. “Its call to ‘Free Elias Rodriguez’ is a grotesque attempt to glorify a cold-blooded murderer.”
“After being shot, Sarah Milgrim struggled to crawl away,” he added. “Elias Rodriguez walked over and executed her at point-blank range. This is the antisemitic demon the DSA has chosen to lionize.”
DSA did not respond to a JNS request for comment on whether the statement of its Liberation Caucus represented the feelings of the organization as a whole.
Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot and killed on the evening of May 21 outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where they were attending an American Jewish Committee event. Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, revealed they were a couple about to be engaged. Milgrim was laid to rest in Kansas on Tuesday.
While being taken into custody, Rodriguez was filmed shouting, “free, free Palestine.” According to an FBI affidavit, Rodriguez claimed he “did it for Gaza.”
On May 22, fifteen members of Israel’s parliament signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that she pursue the death penalty against Rodriguez.
Image: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) speaks at We Belong: Pride and Solidary Event hosted by the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2024. Credit: tedeytan via Wikimedia Commons.
