Last Wednesday night, when two Israeli embassy employees were murdered outside the Jewish Museum in DC, the perpetrator told bystanders, “I did it for Gaza,” and shouted “free Palestine” as he was being arrested.
The two victims were an Israeli Christian, Yaron Lischinsky and an American Jew, Sarah Lynn Milgrim. They were reportedly planning to be married. The alleged murderer is one Elias Rodriguez of Chicago. A “manifesto” of Rodriguez reportedly recites many slanders against Israel.
The president has the power to not only call out and federalize the DC National Guard, he also has the power to effectively nationalize the DC police force.
This wasn’t just a random murder. It was an act of terrorism.
Under 18 U.S. Code Chapter 113B, terrorism is defined in terms of international and national terrorist acts, the definitions differing only in terms of the locale of the act. To be an act of terrorism, the conduct in question has to be in violation of the laws of the United States and appear to be intended to either (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.
By shouting “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” as he is alleged to have done, Rodriguez convicted himself of terrorism by his own statements. If he said those things, which can and will be proved easily, Rodriguez obviously wanted to intimidate the Jewish population of the District — or the nation at large — and wanted to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion.
To emphasize that point, our “friends” the Qataris published statements supportive of Rodriguez’s terrorism. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “a columnist for the Qatar government daily Al-Sharq, called for more attacks targeting Israeli Embassies in Arab countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. On his X account, he shared a photo of the Washington DC attacker, Elias Rodriguez, alongside a report on the attack, writing: “Imagine, where would the Zionists be if there emerged an Egyptian Rodriguez, a Jordanian, an Emirati too, a fourth from Bahrain, and a fifth from Morocco?”
This from a Qatari government-controlled media outlet.
Rodriguez is being held on two counts of first-degree murder. The FBI is reportedly investigating Rodriguez and the U.S. attorney may soon bring the additional terrorism charges against him. Attorney General Pam Bondi said he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Washington, DC isn’t a new venue for terrorism. In 1983, a bomb went off near the Senate chamber in the Capitol. The so-called “Armed Resistance Unit” perpetrated the attack in protest of our military actions in Grenada and Lebanon. In 1940, Puerto Rican terrorists attacked Blair House in an attempt to assassinate Harry Truman. Both locations were under federal protection but the Jewish Museum wasn’t.
The DC Crime Spree
Which brings us to the crime spree that is going on in DC. According to a radio statement by the head of the DC police union, the situation is entirely out of control and it is caused — again, entirely — by the ineptness of the DC government. The gent said that the DC police can’t maintain adequate numbers of officers — which means everything from reduced anti-crime intelligence activity to reduced patrols — because of the “toxic atmosphere” that pervades the government system.
People from neighboring jurisdictions — as well as DC residents – are liable to be carjacked at any time. Guns, which DC had nearly prevented non-criminals from having, are prevalent everywhere. But no one from Virginia or Maryland is allowed to have a gun in his possession because DC doesn’t hold valid carry permits from any other jurisdiction.
The president has the power to not only call out and federalize the DC National Guard, he also has the power to effectively nationalize the DC police force and place it under his control. If the President determines that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for federal purposes,” he can do so under federal and DC law.
At this point, there is obviously a crime emergency in the District requiring that the president do precisely that. The president cannot force the incredibly inept DC government to pay police more, but by taking control of the police force — perhaps placing it under the direction of the U.S. attorney — the “toxic atmosphere” could be remedied.
It’s hard to imagine why a person wants to be a cop these days. They are abused by the public, paid too little and generally trashed by the media. It must be nearly impossible to recruit new cops for the District.
As the Wall Street Journal pointed out in a Thursday editorial there have been many calls on college campuses to “globalize the intifada,” meaning terrorism against Jewish populations everywhere. The editorial said, “What happened here late on Wednesday in Washington is a terrible warning.”
The murders of Lischinsky and Milgrim was, as the Journal said, a terrible warning. Terrorism, whatever the origin, cannot be tolerated anywhere in the United States.
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