Capital Jewish Museum Reopens a Week After the Killing of Israeli Diplomats

WASHINGTON—The Capital Jewish Museum reopened on May 29, more than a week after the fatal shooting of two Israeli diplomats outside the venue.

The reopening featured a 48-minute program with speakers such as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The ceremony included remembrances of the victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who both worked for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

They were shot outside the museum on May 21.

“In an instant, a young couple had their lives cut short. Two families were left devastated. And the fear and grief, of course, have transcended the entire Jewish community, our entire city, and the world,” Bowser said.

“It is not up to the Jewish community to say, ‘Support us.’ It is up to all of us to denounce anti-Semitism in all forms.”

On May 28, there was a Jewish unity and solidarity event at George Washington University in the nation’s capital.

Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said at the event that the United States has not done enough to combat anti-Semitism but pledged a whole-hearted response by the Trump administration.

“We are not doing enough in the United States. The horrible crime that occurred here in our city, in the heart of our country, was evidence of that,” she said.

“And as a civil rights leader and as a lawyer in the United States, I want to say that on behalf of all of us at the Department of Justice, we feel deeply that we are not doing enough.

“I want to assure you that we’re taking seriously the prosecution of hate crimes and of hatred in the United States in all of its forms, at every level. And that includes standing against anti-Semitism wherever we find it.”

The executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, said he was told by Bowser’s staff that the mayor would come to the event, but she did not attend.

In an act of protest, he stood next to the podium for a few minutes in a display of what he said was the mayor’s “silence” over not coming and standing with the Jewish community.

A spokesperson for the mayor told The Epoch Times that she was “not ever confirmed to attend” the event.

The museum shooting suspect, Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, was charged with Lischinsky’s and Milgrim’s murders.

After allegedly shooting them, he ran into the museum, where he was arrested.

Before being put in handcuffs, he is reported to have shouted “Free Palestine.”

He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death through the use of a firearm, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

He could face the death penalty.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has said that it is premature to say whether prosecutors will seek capital punishment.