From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Israeli politicians say US shooting stems from Western leaders emboldening ‘forces of terror’
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"
Israeli politicians link the shooting of two embassy staffers outside an event in Washington to the pro-Palestinian protest movement, describing the attack as a continuation of Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023.
“The terrorist reportedly shouted ‘Free Palestine’ before opening fire. Let us be absolutely clear: ‘Free Palestine’ is not a cry for liberty – it is a cry for murder. That was proven in blood today,” Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli declares in a statement, arguing that the slogan “parroted by activists, academics and influencers, has become a banner not for peace but for hatred, violence, and the demonization of the Jewish state.”
“Anyone who uses it now, in the wake of this attack, is not just echoing antisemitism – they are legitimizing the murder of Jews and Israelis,” he says, slamming “irresponsible leaders in the west” like French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for having “emboldened the forces of terror through their failure to draw moral red lines.”
“This cowardice has a price – and that price is paid in Jewish blood,” he asserts, praising US President Donald Trump’s “swift and unequivocal condemnation of this heinous act.”
National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz tweets that “what starts as ‘Globalize the intifada’ on college campuses, not surprisingly, ends in cowardly murder shouting ‘Free Palestine’ on the streets.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls the double murder the “continuation of the murder in Bruchin and massacre in Nir Oz.”
Bruchin in the West Bank was the site of a terror shooting last week that killed Tzeela Gez, a 30-year-old pregnant woman, while Nir Oz was one of the communities attacked by Hamas on October 7.
“Terrorism has no borders,” states Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “Anyone who thinks that terrorism is only directed against Jews will soon discover that terrorism will also arrive at their doorstep.”
The Times of Israel Community.