Suspected Washington gunman was BLM protester who flaunted support for Hamas
The terror suspect accused of killing two Israeli embassy staff was a Black Lives Matter protester who flaunted his support for Hamas online.
Elias Rodriguez, 30, was arrested after allegedly shooting Israeli embassy staff members Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left a reception for diplomats near Washington's Jewish museum on Wednesday.
Mr Rodriguez entered the museum and was detained by security staff as witnesses rushed to help the victims, police said. Footage of his arrest shows him chanting 'free, free Palestine' as he is taken away by an officer.
Social media posts which appear to have been made by the alleged gunman have revealed the extent of his obsession with the terrorist group Hamas and his thirst for violence.
On New Year's Day, an account believed to belong to Mr Rodriguez posted: 'Happy New Year, Death To Israel.'
In another alarming message published around a week after the assassination attempt of Donald Trump in July last year, Mr Rodriguez shared an image that read: 'I agree with the public opinion that says to kill him!'
Another post suggested he supported the bombing of the New York Times newsroom.
'Progressive tweeps, as much as I love delving into the day's discourse, can we PLEASE save the idealistic and high-minded debate over the morality of sending a truck bomb into the offices of The New York Times until *AFTER* we send a truck bomb into the office,' the post read.
The account's profile picture features an avatar wearing a medical face mask.
After the shooting, Mr Rodriguez fled into the Capital Jewish Museum and was detained.
Amid the chaos, he is said to have been allowed into the museum by security guards who assumed he was a distraught bystander.
Minutes later, when officers arrived, Mr Rodriguez allegedly admitted to carrying out the shooting.
From Chicago, the suspected gunman was once linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a far-Left group that regularly posts anti-Israel rhetoric on social media and spearheaded Black Lives Matter protests.
Mr Rodriguez participated in a 2017 Black Lives Matter protest outside the home of Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago at the time, according to a now-deleted article on the group's Liberation news outlet seen by the New York Post.
Before the killing, he once worked as an oral history researcher at the History Makers, a non-profit that documents the stories of 'unsung' African Americans, an online CV shows.Amichai Chikli, Israeli diaspora affairs minister, said the world must hold to account the 'irresponsible leaders in the West who give backing' to hatred against Jews and Israelis, 'whether through appeasement, double standards, or silence'.Mr Chikli said: 'French president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney have all, in different ways, 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.'
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