Writer’s Response: Is terrorism winning?

Is terrorism winning?

We all woke up to the news today that Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky had been murdered as they were leaving an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington DC. The alleged murderer, Elias Rodriguez, donned a keffiyeh and shouted, ‘Free Palestine’ as he was arrested by police. This is what a globalised intifada looks like – and we’ve been screaming about it for months!

The media are reporting the murder of ‘two Israeli embassy workers’ as if them working for the Israeli embassy somehow justifies their deaths, with the online cultists already comparing the murderer to Luigi Mangione. The couple were leaving a Jewish event at a Jewish institution. Rodriguez did not ask them what their occupation was, he did not ask them their thoughts on Gaza, he simply saw two Jews and murdered them in cold blood. It’s not about Palestine and it never was, this is what we have been warning you about. This is why we feel uncomfortable when we see people walking around in public with the same scarves, badges and slogans as the terrorists who are determined to murder us. This is why it feels like the streets are no longer safe for us.

Frustratingly, the police department said that Rodriguez was not on their radar. However, it has been reported that he was a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation which is a violent pro-Palestinian group who have previously posted about ‘exterminating Zionists’. I have said time and time again that people in these groups are violent and dangerous and they need to be added to police and counter terrorism watch-lists. I said the same thing to the police outside Tottenham Court Road months ago as they idly watched the thugs in masks and keffiyehs shout, ‘glory to the resistance’ and ‘globalise the intifada’. I told the police that these people need to be put on terrorist watch-lists and the police were outraged at the suggestion. Fast forward a few months and these are the same people who could be murdering us outside synagogues. 

I feel utterly hopeless. I don’t know what to do. I’ve seen countless posts today from Jews asking, ‘how many of us need to be shot dead for people to listen?’ The truth is that people do not care. If they cared, they would have stopped the radicalisation of these groups 18 months ago when they first began shouting their terrorist slogans on the streets. They’ve seen that the police and government do nothing as they openly support terrorism, so their next logical step is to start murdering us. 

This killing could be the first of many. More of us could be murdered by these terrorists and we’ll be expected as we always have,  to have to listen to debates and justification of where our deaths fall in the spectrum of right and wrong. We’ll have to listen to news presenters report on our murders followed by some statement about Gaza as if murder of Jews is different to murder of anyone else. Our existence is being intrinsically linked to an evil that needs removing from the world. They can’t help but sprinkle their reports with notions of poetic justice and triumph in our violent deaths. 

I fear that it’s too late for change, I hope I’m wrong. Half of me wants to march to Downing Street and demand actual real change and the other half of me wants to crawl into my bed and give up.