Far-right ministers blame Yair Golan for shooting of Israeli embassy staffers
‘Yair, the blood of the embassy employees is on your hands and on those of your friends,’ tweets Amichay Eliyahu; President Herzog calls on public to ‘stop this ugly mudslinging’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
President Isaac Herzog on Thursday morning issued an impassioned plea to the Israeli public not to politicize the shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, DC, the previous night, after far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition accused one of their political rivals of being responsible for the deadline attack, sparking a public feud.
“When it comes to the despicable murder in Washington, domestic Israeli political views have no significance,” Herzog posted on X, arguing that the shooter had set out to commit “a criminal act of terror out of antisemitism and deep hatred.”
“On a sad and difficult morning of a very serious terrorist attack, and at a time when the State of Israel is facing many threats, I appeal to the public in Israel: Stop this ugly mudslinging. I am asking you to understand the magnitude of your responsibility at this time, to restrain your statements and do only what contributes to and strengthens the State of Israel and supports Jewish communities around the world,” Herzog added.
Two Israeli embassy staffers, a young couple about to be engaged, were killed by a gunman in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night. The suspect, who chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, is in custody, officials said.
The pair, identified as Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in the area of 3rd and F Streets in Northwest, a part of central Washington that is about 1.3 miles (2 km) from the White House.
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine,” after being taken into custody, Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said.
Following the shooting, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, as well as Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli and others, blamed Yair Golan, the chairman of the left-wing opposition The Democrats party, for the attack, arguing that his claim on Tuesday morning that Israel “kills babies as a hobby” had emboldened antisemites.
Golan later Tuesday said that his comments had been directed at the government, not the military, and that “our mission is to ensure that Israel remains a sane country that does not kill children either as a hobby or as a policy.”
“Yair Golan’s blood libels are echoed by Nazis and Israel haters around the world,” Eliyahu tweeted on Thursday morning. “We’re now paying the price with the murderous terror attack in Washington and history teaches us that we will pay more down the line. Yair, the blood of the embassy employees is on your hands and on those of your friends.”
Eliyahu’s comments were echoed by Ben Gvir, the leader of his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, who asserted that “antisemites in the world draw encouragement from villainous politicians in Israel, who accuse IDF soldiers of murdering children as a hobby.”
“The blood of those murdered is on their hands,” Ben Gvir declared.
In a post on X, Golan countered that the discourse of government ministers, including supporters of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane, enabled it.
“The government of Kahane Chai” — referring to Kahane’s Kach party that was outlawed in the 1980s — “is the one that fuels antisemitism and hatred of Israel, and the result is unprecedented diplomatic isolation and danger to every Jew at every point on the globe,” Golan asserted. He vowed to replace the government and “restore security to all Jews, in Israel and anywhere around the world.”
Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit faction have long described themselves as disciples of Kahane, although in recent years they have tried to present themselves as more moderate than the American-born rabbi.
Diaspora Minister Chikli also condemned Golan as well as former prime minister Ehud Olmert and the Haaretz daily, claiming that their “reckless statements” had reinforced the now-debunked “blood libel” that there was an “immediate danger of death from starvation for 14,000 babies in Gaza.”
Chikli shared a post by slain embassy staffer Yaron Lischinsky also dismissing the claim as a blood libel.
On Wednesday, Olmert told the BBC that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza is very close to a war crime.”
During a subsequent interview with Radio 103FM on Thursday morning, Olmert called Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich “terrorists,” stating that their policies would lead to Israel’s “isolation and ostracism” by the international community.
Chikli also blamed the attack on “irresponsible leaders in the West” like French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whom he accused of having “emboldened the forces of terror through their failure to draw moral red lines.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sounded a similar note, declaring that Wednesday evening’s shooting was “what happens when leaders across the world surrender to the Palestinian terrorist propaganda.”
“Stop your incitement against Israel. Stop your false accusations,” Sa’ar urged world leaders.
Like Herzog, Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition National Unity party, called for civility in the wake of Wednesday night’s shooting, writing in a post on X that the shooting was committed by “a despicable murderer full of hatred and antisemitism.”
“The blood is on his hands and that of those who spread wild incitement against Jews around the world who grew [such hatred] within themselves,” he continued. “We have enough external enemies. The greatest gift we can give them is to fight among ourselves and become enemies at home.”
Times of Israel staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.