A former Biden diplomat declared on Thursday that the “Free Palestine” slogan has become a “call for violence.”
Following the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers earlier this week, former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism under President Biden, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, told CNN that no matter what “Free Palestine” meant originally, it has become a slogan urging violent attacks against Jewish people.
“I think there’s no question, whatever its initial intent and whatever people were saying initially or meant it, it has become a call for violence, and not violence against Israelis — which is wrong — but violence against Jews,” she told CNN “Inside Politics” host Dana Bash.
Israel embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky, who has been identified as both Christian and Jewish in reports, and Sarah Milgrim were shot and killed while departing an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. A man authorities identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago has been charged in the killings and faces the death penalty. Upon his arrest, Rodriguez screamed “free Palestine.”
Lipstadt told Bash that she “was not surprised” at the murders, saying that Jewish people are constantly on guard against such threats.
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“There is no Jewish institution virtually in the world – but certainly in the United States – that doesn’t have security,” she said. “If you’re a Jewish young person, your normal is, whether you’re going to synagogue, going to the JCC [Jewish Community Center], you’re going to a film festival, that you’re going to have to go through security – that you have to be taken care of.”
Bash brought up the alleged murderer shouting “free Palestine” as well as those using the slogan at various anti-Israel protests on college campuses and other demonstrations throughout the country, and asked Lipstadt if she believes it encourages violence.
“You just heard the alleged killer saying, ‘free Palestine.’ We hear that on the streets. We hear that on college campuses. And there are a lot of people who feel, who have been worried that that has been turned into a call to arms and a call to action and violence. Others claim that it’s not. What do you think now that we have seen this?” she asked.
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Lipstadt affirmed she believes it’s a call for violence now, even if it was intended in a different way before.
The former envoy continued, “And anybody who tries to separate the two and try to say, ‘Oh, I’m just against Israel’s policies in Palestine or in Gaza, and I’m not antisemitic,’ this was antisemitism pure and simple. That he happened to have killed two Israeli staff didn’t matter. It was a Jewish event, they were targets.”
