Washington D.C., is reeling from a brutal act of violence. Late Wednesday night, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a young Israeli couple working at their nation’s embassy and reportedly soon to be engaged, were shot dead outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The alleged perpetrator, now in custody, reportedly shouted “free, free Palestine” and, according to eyewitnesses, declared “I did this for Gaza… There’s only one solution. Intifada revolution” after being detained. The horror is immediate, the loss profound, and the condemnation of this senseless act rightly universal.
In the aftermath, Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have attributed the killings to a “vile antisemitic murderer” and the “direct result of toxic, antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews around the world that has been going on since the October 7th massacre.” This narrative points to a global atmosphere poisoned by hatred, leading to such violent eruptions.
Yet, even as the victims are mourned and the perpetrator faces justice, a broader, deeply unsettling context shadows this tragedy—a context illuminated by voices now rising with unprecedented force from within Israel itself and from the international community. These voices speak to the devastating conduct of the war in Gaza, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, and the perilous global atmosphere it is fostering.
Just this week, as reported by the BBC, Yair Golan, a respected Israeli politician and former deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), issued a stark warning that Israel is “on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country.” He directly criticized a state that “does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the goal of depopulating the population.” Moshe “Bogi” Ya’alon, a former Israeli Minister of Defence and IDF chief of staff, went further, labeling such actions not a mere “hobby” but a “government policy… leading us to destruction.”

These are not isolated sentiments. Recent polling in Israel indicates that 61% of Israelis now want to end the war and see hostages returned, with only 25% supporting an expansion of the fighting. Anti-war groups like “Standing Together,” comprising both Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, are holding protests, decrying the “horrors in Gaza,” despite arrests. Thousands of Israeli reservists have reportedly signed letters demanding an end to the fighting. This growing internal dissent, from high-ranking former officials to ordinary citizens and soldiers, suggests a profound crisis of conscience and a recognition of the catastrophic human cost of the current policies in Gaza, where over 53,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The international community is also recoiling. The United Kingdom has announced sanctions against extremist Israeli settler groups, suspended trade deal talks, and summoned Israel’s ambassador, with its Foreign Secretary calling the military escalation in Gaza “morally unjustifiable.” The European Union is reviewing its foundational association agreement with Israel, and a powerful joint statement from the UK, France, and Canada has condemned Israel’s military actions, warning of “further concrete actions.”

The alleged D.C. gunman, in his heinous act, directly invoked “Gaza” and “Free Palestine.” While he alone bears responsibility for pulling the trigger, it is difficult to ignore the global environment of extreme anger, despair, and polarization that the ongoing devastation in Gaza and the policies driving it have created. When respected voices within Israel describe their own government’s actions in terms that echo the harshest international criticisms, it amplifies the sense of global outrage.
No policy, no matter how controversial or criticized, can ever justify the murder of innocent civilians. The attack in Washington is an act of terror and hate. Yet, leaders who pursue policies that result in widespread civilian death, that are condemned as “morally unjustifiable” by close allies, that lead to warnings of “pariah state” status from their own former top military commanders, and that fuel a “mood of despair, trauma” even within segments of their own society, must also consider the dangerously volatile global atmosphere they are helping to sustain.
The calls for change emanating from within Israel itself, for a return to “acting like a sane country,” are not merely about Israel’s soul or its international standing. They may also be crucial to de-escalating a global climate where such tragic, misdirected acts of rage can find fertile ground in the hearts of extremists. The path away from further such tragedies requires not only confronting antisemitism and all forms of hate but also addressing the root grievances and devastating policies that provide the grim backdrop to a world increasingly on edge.
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