Israeli Embassy Staff Murdered in ‘Armed Action’ Against Gaza Genocide

Last night, two staff members of the Israeli embassy were murdered in Washington DC.  Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were attending a Young Diplomats reception to cultivate foreign policy professionals, sponsored by the Israel Lobby group, American Jewish Committee.  The alleged killer accosted them after the event ended, and fired at a group of four people, striking the two individuals.  After the shooter, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested he was heard shouting: “Free Palestine.”

Ken Klippenstein published a “manifesto” written by the alleged killer the day before his attack explaining his plan in theoretical terms:

An armed action is not necessarily a military action. It usually is not. Usually it is theater and spectacle, a quality it shares with many unarmed actions. Nonviolent protest in the opening weeks of the genocide seemed to signal some sort of turning point…

But thus far the rhetoric has not amounted to much. The Israelis themselves boast about their own shock at the free hand the Americans have given them to exterminate the Palestinians. Public opinion has shifted against the genocidal apartheid state, and the American government has simply shrugged…Aaron Bushnell and others sacrificed themselves in the hopes of stopping the massacre and the state works to make us feel their sacrifice was made in vain, that there is no hope in escalating for Gaza and no point in bringing the war home. We can’t let them succeed. Their sacrifices were not made in vain…

A word about the morality of armed demonstration. Those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity. I sympathize with this viewpoint…But inhumanity has long since shown itself to be shockingly common, mundane, prosaically human. A perpetrator may then be a loving parent, a filial child, a generous and charitable friend…capable of moral strength at times when it suits him and sometimes even when it does not, and yet be a monster all the same. Humanity doesn’t exempt one from accountability…

I think to most Americans such an action [protesting Operation Protective Edge 2014] would have been illegible, would seem insane. I am glad that today at least there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do.

I’ve argued here for the legitimacy of armed resistance in Palestine-Israel.

When Israelis kill, they’re heroes. When the Palestinian resistance does, they’re terrorists

The Jewish community, Israeli leaders, and global media have falsely portrayed this as an anti-Semitic act. It is not.  It is an act of armed resistance against Israeli genocide.  The killer never mentioned Jews. “Free Palestine” is a slogan of resistance to genocide.  It is not, as Netanyahu falsely claimed akin to a Nazi slogan (“For these neo-Nazis, ‘Free Palestine’ is just today’s version of ‘Heil Hitler.’ “).  This returns us to an old calumny that Palestinians are a modern day incarnation of Nazism.  It’s a modified version of Godwin’s Law, in which every Zionist argument will, sooner or later, invoke Hitler or Nazism.  It is, as I’ve written here, a cheap smear against anyone who dares to criticize Israel or Zionism.  If you call someone a pedophile, baby-killer, anti-Semite, Nazi it immediately invalidates whatever their argument may be.  No one wants to pay credence to those who violate social taboos.

Even the so-called Jewish left has chimed in with liberal Zionist talking points:

 

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A post shared by Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (@jfrejnyc)

When we allow our hearts to harden to such an extent that we shrug off acts of violence and treat someone’s identity as grounds to deny their humanity, we lose our own humanity in the process.

Speaking of “denying humanity”: what have the Israelis done to the Palestinians?  53,000 times.  IDF fired the same bullets that killed the embassy staff members. Not once or twice. Nor did they kill one couple as happened yesterday in Washington. They fired 53,000 times.  Talk about “shrugging off acts of violence!”

The post also eulogized Milgrim, saying “in her own words, she was passionate about building peace.” What sort of “peace” does an Israeli enbassy staff member build amidst a genocide?  This posting by the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice could’ve been written by the AJC or even the ADL. It engages in wishful thinking and obliviousness to Palestinian suffering.

Israeli officials have spoken of the murdered couple’s engagement and the wedding ring the future groom planned giving his intended in Jerusalem. But what about the Palestinian brides and grooms like Alaa Abu Al-Ainain and Hala Za’rab, murdered hours after their wedding? Or Maryam Sayed Deeb and Abdullah Abu Nahl, who exchanged vows even though they could not properly celebrate amidst Israeli bombardment.  Their lives too have been obliterated.  No one in the media, no foreign leaders called Israel “Nazis” or “murderer” after their deaths.  There were no profiles published.  They, along with thousands of other such couples, will never raise families, become grandparents, have careers. Why do we mourn for Yaron and Sarah, but not for them?

‘Free Palestine’ is a call for justice, not genocide

In the entirety of the Gaza war, the anti-war movement has never espoused or endorsed such violence. In fact, amidst hundreds of encampments and tens of thousands of rallies attended by millions throughout the world, there have only been a handful of acts of violence. And most of those were provoked by police riots and violence directed at them by pro-Israel thugs (UCLA).

Despite the mass slaughter of women and children in Gaza. Despite the mass starvation. Despite the destruction of the entire enclave. Despite 53,000 known dead (and hundreds of thousands more likely dead).  The movement has focused on opposing the war, and not making war.  This murder is not a product of the Palestine solidarity movement.  It did not engender this act nor is it responsible for it.

However, Israel is responsible, as former IDF general and now leader of a moderate Opposition party, Yair Golan tweeted:

It is Netanyahu’s Kahane Hai [“Kahane lives”] government that is fueling anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel, and the result is unprecedented political isolation and danger to every Jew in every corner of the globe.

Jews are not in danger because they are Jews, but because Zionism falsely claims to represent all Jews.  Thus, every evil Israel commits becomes a crime by Jews.  Why should we expect any potential attacker to understand this, when Zionists espouse such a view?

Nonetheless, Rodriguez did understand this. That’s why he attacked Israelis and embassy staff. Not Jews.  As far as he was concerned they could have been Buddhist, Christian or any other religion.  You can read that in his manifesto. There’s isn’t a single reference to Jews or Judaism.  The only references are to Israel.

So to the media I say: stop calling this anti-Semitic!!

Rodriguez engaged in an act of armed resistance. In his mind, violence begets violence.  Genocide begets resistance.  Remember, that Herschel Grynszpan assassinated the Paris SS chief in retaliation for the in revenge for the thousands of Jewish refugees, including members of his own family, who had been expelled from Germany and were trapped in horrible conditions at the Polish border.  This account also echoes the incendiary anti-Palestine rhetoric from the media, Israel Lobby and Bibi Netanyahu following the DC killings:

The Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, seized on Vom Rath’s murder as a long-awaited opportunity to unleash brutal violence against Jewish shops, businesses and synagogues, citing the Paris killing as proof of the deadly danger Jews supposedly posed.

And of course, the best known act of Jewish resistance was the Warsaw ghetto uprising.  Just as Jews had a right to armed resistance during the Holocaust, so does a people suffering a genocide. Just as we Jews were once considered terrorists by the Nazis, we now label Elias Rodriguez a terrorist. Today, the Warsaw ghetto fighters are considered heroes of the Jewish people. Why is a Jew a hero, while an act of Palestinian armed resistance is an act of terror?

The American Jewish Committee, which hosted the event, is a major Israel Lobby player.  It has championed Israel’s war against Hamas.  Any event cultivating junior DC diplomats seeks to recruit future assets on Israel’s behalf.  Further, the staff of Israeli embassies around the world work for a government committing genocide. They are not innocent civilians.  They are cogs in a machine manufacturing death on an industrial scale.  If we denounce Nazis for implementing mass murder, we must do the same to Israel and its representatives.  While the army may be the perpetrator of war crimes, Israel’s diplomatic corps purvey the narrative of “self-defense” an “Hamas terrorism” and “abused hostages” on a global stage.

It’s Zionism, stupid

The news coverage is already blasting absolutely false headlines calling the attack anti-Semitic. Netanyahu is trotting out his hoary old “blood libel” mantra.  This is not only false, it is a lie.  This has nothing to do with Jews or Judaism. This was a response to Israeli crimes.  If we are learning anything over the past 19 months, it is that it’s imperative that we separate Zionism and Israel from Jews and Judaism.  They are not the same. They must not be the same.

If they are the same, then Jews are guilty of Israel’s crimes.  Then neo-Nazis and Islamists are correct when they attack Jews.

The murder is a perfect opportunity for Netanyahu, who is shameless at exploiting tragedy for his own personal advantage.  In this he did not disappoint tonight. The worst, most cynical lies poured from his lips. And of course he trotted out the old war horses of eternal victimhood.  He was “shocked by the horrific antisemitic murder” and added:

“We are witnessing the terrible price of antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel. The blood libels against Israel are rising in blood and must be fought to the bitter end.”

It is not a blood libel to accuse Israel of genocide.  It is decent, humane, and most of all truthful. Israeli crimes are blood libels against humanity.  They trap all of us in an ugly web of hate and slaughter.  We are all tainted by the blood shed by Israel. We are all in some sense guilty, along with the perpetrators.

We must not permit ourselves to be bullied by the Israeli propaganda apparatus, which exploits these deaths in order to conceal its own crimes against humanity.

One of the most hysterical of Israeli ministers, Amichai Chikli, even blamed France, Canada and the UK–which issued a joint statement demanding an end to the war–for the DC shooting. He said they had “emboldened the forces of terror.”  Protesting genocide is never and can never be a spur to terrorism.  Just the opposite.

Golan’s tweet is the truth we must never forget.  Nor permit to be drowned out by the poison spewed by Netanyahu. Nonetheless, Golan’s analysis doesn’t go far enough.  Netanyahu isn’t the only one guilty of these crimes.  He leads a government whose ministers are among the most vile of cheerleaders for the slaughter of mothers and children.  He commands a military which commits the crimes on his behalf.  Not to mention a diplomatic corps which broadcasts the message of the killers and criminals.  They are all guilty.  Not Jews, but Israel. All of Israel.  Even diplomats attending a reception promoting Israeli interests.

There no longer are niceties. We can no longer distinguish between the good Israelis and the bad Israelis.  Or blame the settlers or the Likud or the Hilltop Youth as extremists set apart from the innocent Israelis.  They are all interlinked.  All guilty. And they’ve swallowed up an entire nation in their crimes.