Shooting of Israeli embassy staffers is outgrowth of antisemitism on college campuses: Batya Ungar-Sargon

Journalist and author Batya Ungar-Sargon said that the murder suspect who gunned down two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday followed similar rhetoric as anti-Israel protesters on college campuses. 

"He is an outgrowth of the antisemitism on college campuses," Ungar-Sargon said Thursday of the alleged shooter while appearing on CNN. "And how are we not talking about that? That is the story. There is a culture of dehumanizing Jews that is rampant on the left. Nobody wants to talk about it. They‘re not going to listen to us. We need people on the left to say this is unacceptable."

The Embassy of Israel to the U.S. identified the victims shot in DC as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who were set to be engaged. A 31-year-old man identified as Elias Rodriguez, of Chicago, has been arrested and charged with the murders. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said that the gun used by him was recovered. 

TWO ISRAELI DIPLOMATS SHOT, KILLED DURING EVENT AT CAPITAL JEWISH MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, DC

Batya Ungar-Sargon said the man suspected of murdering two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday used similar rhetoric as anti-Israel protesters on college campuses.  (CNN)

"I think probably a lot of Jews watching this are feeling the way I‘m feeling, which is that I can‘t believe we‘re talking about this," Ungar-Sargon continued, "rather than the fact that two people were murdered because the terrorist who killed them believed that they were Jews and was chanting the exact same thing that Jewish students have had to hear chanted at them for two years while he did that." 

The suspected killer chanted, "Free, free Palestine" as he was apprehended, a common refrain of anti-Israel protesters. 

She described the alleged killer as someone "who wrote a manifesto that reads exactly like the kinds of op-eds that are written routinely on these college campuses, that the comments on that manifesto are all completely in support of him." 

WITNESS RECOUNTS CHILLING MOMENT DC JEWISH MUSEUM SHOOTER CONFESSED ‘I DID THIS FOR GAZA’

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. (Embassy of Israel to the USA via X/Handout via REUTERS)

Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with the murder of foreign officials, a federal capital offense, along with multiple firearm-related counts and two counts of first-degree murder.

If convicted of either of the first two counts, he could face the death penalty. Under D.C. law, a conviction for first-degree murder carries a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life behind bars.

Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report. 

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