Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy were victims of a Jew-hating killer in Washington, D.C., May 21, in the wake of a flurry of false reports of a deadly famine in Gaza and blood libels that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting children there, widely repeated in the bourgeois news media.
Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were shot multiple times by Elias Rodriguez after leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. After the shooting Rodriguez was let into the museum by guards who at first thought he was also a victim.
When police arrived, Rodriguez said, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.” As he was arrested he chanted, “Free, free, Palestine” and “There is only one solution — intifada revolution.”
According to the Washington Post, Rodriguez shot the two in the back and continued firing when they were on the ground. He stopped to reload and continued shooting Milgrim as she tried to crawl away.
Most working people were repelled by the cold-blooded murders. But several middle-class leftist groups that claim to be socialist or “anti-imperialist” lauded the Jew-hating terror. That includes Unity of Fields and Workers World Party, a Stalinist group.
Both groups published what they identified as Rodriguez’s “political manifesto” under the title “Escalate for Gaza. Bring the War Home,” part of Rodriguez’s vile attempt to paint himself as a hero to be emulated, but which actually shows his scorn for working people.
The killings show that Jew-hatred is not a Middle East question. As the crisis of capitalism heats up, there will be more attempts to scapegoat Jews and give new twists to the age-old blood libels that Jews drink the blood of Christian babies.
UN lies about Gaza conditions
Over the last few weeks, rhetoric against Israel’s war to dismantle Hamas and free the remaining hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, has stepped up — from both the “left” and the “right” of bourgeois politics.
United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC May 20 the outrageous lie that 14,000 babies would die in Gaza within the next 48 hours if humanitarian aid did not reach them. He blamed Israel’s embargo on food and medicine to Gaza that began in early March.
Even though the U.N. rapidly dropped the false story — now claiming that 14,000 children under the age of 5 would be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months — seven days later the BBC still had the original slander posted on their website. To get the corrected version you have to click on an “update.” Other media like the Guardian newspaper have done something similar.
The lie traveled the world media, but the correction was buried away.
U.N. agencies in Gaza have long collaborated with the Nazi-like Hamas thugs on everything from funding schools that promote Jew-hatred and martyrdom to covering up the group’s use of hospitals and U.N. facilities to launch attacks on Israel. U.N. staff in Gaza are riddled with Hamas operatives.
Access to food and medicine and avoiding civilian casualties is challenging in Gaza amid a war where Hamas — backed by Tehran — uses civilians as human shields and places its command posts and weapons supplies in and underneath schools, mosques, homes, hospitals and U.N. facilities.
Breaking Hamas’ control of food
Nonetheless, since the start of the war in October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces report Israel has facilitated the entry of more than 1.3 million tons of food on 63,500 trucks and 60,000 tons of water on 3,000 trucks. That would be enough to feed the entire population.
But Hamas steals much of this right off the top for its own use and sells some on the market at hugely inflated prices to raise funds. The food is clearly labeled as humanitarian aid, not for sale.
The Israeli government has started working with the newly formed, U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to set up alternative food distribution sites, starting with four in south and central Gaza.
Hamas has threatened to kill anyone who works to either facilitate the new setup or whoever gets aid there. Thousands of Palestinians ignored Hamas, bypassed their roadblock and went to the new sites the first two days, despite major logistical challenges.
Blows to Hamas
Since ending the ceasefire in mid-March, the Israel Defense Forces have taken control over 40% of Gaza, on the way to its goal of 75%. In a shift from how the IDF waged the war earlier, Israeli soldiers now remain in control of each area they free from Hamas.
These battlefield gains are dealing significant new blows to Hamas. That’s a key factor in giving confidence to thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, who over the last month have repeatedly taken to the streets to demand “Hurry up, Hamas, get out!”
The Families and Clans of the Southern Governorates of the Gaza Strip — a group that is no friend of the Israeli government — issued a statement May 25 blaming all the “Palestinian factions,” and especially Hamas, “for the continuation of this catastrophic situation, and for every soul lost, every child who dies of hunger, bombardment, or injustice.”
The capitalist press in the U.S. and worldwide is full of reports from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry blaming Israeli forces for civilian casualties from the latest offensive. But they rarely report the number of those casualties who are Hamas combatants, nor how Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields. Several studies show that death figures from the Gaza Health Ministry have been manipulated from the start.
Imperialist pressure on Israel
Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, claimed May 26 that the civilian population is “increasingly” being harmed in Gaza, something that “can no longer be justified.” The week before, the governments of the U.K., France and Canada jointly demanded Israel “cease the renewed military offensive.”
President Donald Trump has been pressing Israeli leaders to end the war in Gaza “as quickly as possible.” As the executive officer of the U.S. capitalist ruling class, his goal is to defend its interests in the Middle East, which includes establishing a “Pax Americana” for defending U.S. interests.
The Trump administration is also warning Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back off any attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons sites.
But even one small nuclear weapon launched from Iran hitting Haifa, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem could kill hundreds of thousands of Jews, as well as Arabs, immigrants and others who live in Israel.
Trump sent Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Israel to meet with Netanyahu to drive home the point. Noem told Fox News the meeting was “candid and direct.”
Netanyahu issued a public rejoinder to the European leaders’ joint statement, saying, “They want Israel to stand down and accept that Hamas’ army of mass murders will survive, rebuild and repeat the October 7th massacre again and again and again because that’s what Hamas has vowed to do.”
Netanyahu knows that the continued survival of Israel as a refuge for Jews and the lives of all who live there is at stake.