Two Israeli embassy staff shot dead outside Jewish museum in US

Israeli PM, Netanyahu

Two Israeli embassy staffers, one of them an American, were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted “free Palestine” as he was arrested.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led global condemnation of the attack, both of them blaming anti-Semitism.“Blood libels against Israel are paid in blood — and they must be fought relentlessly,” Netanyahu said in a statement, ordering a boost in security at Israeli embassies around the world.

Shots rang out on the sidewalk outside the Capital Jewish Museum, a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the White House, late Wednesday as it held an event for young professionals and diplomatic staff.

Emergency vehicles remained at the scene in the early hours of Thursday after police taped off the area in the heart of the US capital.

Israel identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a US employee of the embassy, and said they were a couple who may have been planning to marry.

Lischinsky was a research assistant at the Israeli embassy, while Milgrim worked for its public diplomacy department, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Lischinsky was Christian, according to The Times of Israel, for whom he had previously worked as a blogger. Germany’s foreign minister said he also held a German passport. Vanguard