Elias Rodriguez Chicago radical activist and alleged Washington D.C gunman who shot & killed two Israeli embassy workers left 900 word manifesto online where he criticized Israel’s ongoing genocide of Gaza and the claim that only violence was now the ‘only sane option’ to bring an end to the ongoing strife.
Authorities are now exploring whether a Chicago man alleged to have shot & killed two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington D.C wrote and posted an anti-Israel 900 word manifesto online leading up to to Wednesday night’s bloodshed.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, had allegedly chanted ‘Free, free Palestine’ just moments before he confessed to gunning down the couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum late Wednesday, cops said.
Elias Rodriguez from Chicago is the murderer and of course when he was arrested he shouted “Free Palestine”
This is how the terrorist was filmed – moments after he murdered the Israeli embassy employees.
Palestinianism is a death cult.
Remember, the entire purpose of “free… pic.twitter.com/UXr5wTNee5— Cheryl E 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🎗️ (@CherylWroteIt) May 22, 2025
D.C shooter manifesto criticized ongoing Gaza genocide and that ‘violence was only sane option’ left
Authorities said Rodriguez continued chanting, ‘Free Palestine,’ upon his arrest and while being led to custody.
As investigators probed a motive behind the ‘anti-semitic‘ attack, cops were homing in on a 900-word manifesto with Rodriguez’s name that started circulating online immediately after his arrest.
In addition to trying to determine the document’s authenticity, authorities were also trawling through Rodriguez’s electronic devices and probing whether the left wing socialist who seemingly participated in a range of radical activism was self-radicalized.
The missive, said to be dated May 20 — a day before the slayings — appeared to suggest the killings were an act of political protest ignited by the war in Gaza.
The manifesto mentioned the high death toll in Gaza (north of 53,000) and noted what it claimed to be the ineffectiveness of nonviolent protests against Israel, including the self-immolation of US Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell.
It also expresses dissatisfaction with American support for Israel and what it decried as the U.S government’s ‘bland reassurances that they’re doing all they can to restrain Israel where it cannot criminalize protest outright.’
Rodriguez expresses the belief that his actions will now be viewed by many Americans as ‘highly legible’ and ‘the only sane thing to do.’
The essay ends with what appears to be a defense of ‘the morality of armed demonstration.’
Chicago radical activist politicizing Gaza-Israel strife
Pointing to the real likelihood that the document was indeed written by Rodriguez, the document was signed and timestamped by Rodriguez well before he was named by law enforcement or any media.
Stated the document, ‘After a few months of rapidly mounting death tolls Israel had obliterated the capacity to even continue counting the dead, which has served its genocide well.
‘An armed action is not necessarily a military action. It usually is not. Usually it is theater and spectacle, a quality it shares with many unarmed actions.’
The alleged manifesto went on to suggest that those ‘of us against the genocide’ have ‘forfeited their humanity.’
‘But inhumanity has long since shown itself to be shockingly common, mundane, prosaically human. A perpetrator may then be a loving parent, a filial child, a generous and charitable friend, an amiable stranger, capable of moral strength at times when it suits him and sometimes even when it does not, and yet be a monster all the same,’ the writings state.
‘Humanity doesn’t exempt one from accountability. The action would have been morally justified taken 11 years ago during Protective Edge, around the time I personally became acutely aware of our brutal conduct in Palestine.
‘But I think to most Americans such an action would have been illegible, would seem insane. I am glad that today at least there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do,’ it added.
The author ended the document saying he loved his parents, sister and family — before declaring ‘Free Palestine.’
The document emerged as Rodriguez was being interviewed by D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI early Thursday, the Times of Israel reported.
Rodriguez, a Chicago native, is accused of gunning down the couple — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim — as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
He was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting, Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said.
‘Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offense,’ she said.
Witness Katie Kalisher said she was among people inside the museum who spotted Rodriguez entering — looking very scared — after the gunshots rang out.
She said some tried to help him, thinking he was a victim, before he suddenly pulled out a keffiyeh scarf.
‘He says, ‘I did it. I did it for Gaza, free, free Palestine’. And he’s chanting this. And then suddenly the police come in and they arrest him,’ Kalisher said of the caught–on-camera arrest.
