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Elias Rodriguez opened fire outside the Capital Jewish Museum, killing two, a soon to be engaged Israeli couple, and wounded two others, but few media outlets reported his political orientation and his background. Or the outpouring of support from the anti-Israel Left.
In 2023, stickers reading “Exterminate Zionists” and the name of the Party for Socialism and Liberation appeared at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Rodriguez had been a member of the affiliated University of Illinois at Chicago and had been a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. According to Rodriguez’s manifesto, he became radicalized 11 years ago and was convinced that killing Israelis, Americans and Jews was the right thing to do. That was the same year that he was being quoted as taking part in protest rallies and speaking on behalf of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
PSL claims that Elias Rodriguez only had a “brief association” with the Communist group, but even according to their timeline, the terrorist was with the organization for at least 3 years.
And likely more.
Rather than disavowing him, members of the pro-terrorist movement cheered his crimes.
Palestine Action US, which currently uses the Jihadist name ‘Unity of Fields’, distributed an illustrated version of the D.C. killer’s manifesto under his headline of “Escalate for Gaza”. It described the murder of a Jewish couple attending an event at a Jewish museum as “the rightful execution of the two nazi pigs” and hailed “the resistance that Elias will inspire.“
Rep. Rashida Tlaib had previously held an anti-Israel event featuring Palestine Action US, the Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Islamist group EMGAGE.
The Bronx Anti-War Coalition declared correctly that “what Elias Rodriguez did is the highest expression of anti-Zionism” and “we need more Elias Rodriguez in this world.” Its rallies have featured banners with pictures of Islamic terrorist leaders and calls for joining Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’.
PSL tried to deny its link to the murderer, but did not condemn it. Rodriguez was simply implementing the PSL’s enthusiastic support for the mass murder of Jews, and the Communist terrorist switched from cheering the attacks from the sidelines to actually engaging in them.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation is a Communist party with Trotskyist roots. Its most publicly visible face are the anti-war ANSWER coalition protests after 9/11. After Oct 7, PSL focused heavily on anti-Israel rallies. At a rally after the Hamas Oct 7 attacks, a PSL speaker celebrated that Hamas had “liberated an area that is actually larger than the Gaza Strip.”
He joked about the Nova festival massacre that “there was sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang-gliders.”
Participants gleefully chanted “700” in reference to the then reported number of Israeli victims.
One of Rodriguez’s reposts was titled, “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Hamas.”
He also reposted speeches by former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah along with Iranian slogans such as “De@th 2 Amerikkka” and “Death to Israel”.
PSL’s official response on Oct 7 described the Hamas atrocities as “a counter-offensive by Palestinian resistance forces” and argued that the “actions of the resistance over the course of the last day is a morally and legally legitimate response.” And it declared that, “resistance to apartheid and fascist-type oppression is not a crime!”
Rodriguez’s manifesto was titled “Escalate for Gaza. Bring the war home.” That’s been the premise of the pro-terrorist rallies, including by his old organization.
While PSL may seem obscure to most Americans, its presidential candidate appeared on the ballots of 7 states, including California, New York and Florida, Its presidential candidate Claudia De La Cruz however works for an organization funded by a Maoist millionaire operating out of Communist China which has been accused of acting as a front of the regime.
Like PSL, the People’s Forum described Oct 7, as an “unprecedented liberation struggle” by “Palestinian resistance factions”.
“We give our heart, we give our life, we give our blood to the Palestinian people,” Manolo De Los Santos, a founding director of The People’s Forum declared at a pro-terrorist rally in Manhattan. “We will use whatever we have in our hands. A rock or something else. We will defend the Palestinian people.”
The anti-Israel Left is rapidly rationalizing and even celebrating the murder of a Jewish couple because that is what they intended all along. They were never going to draw the line at blocking highways while glorifying Hamas. The goal was to get useful idiots like Elias to carry out attacks.
Why did a Latino man travel across the country to murder a Jewish couple? Because he had been indoctrinated into believing that it was the right thing to do by a network of terrorist groups pretending to be “pro-palestinian” or concerned about “human rights”, when what they actually wanted was a pretext for street and then terrorist violence and finally a revolutionary takeover.
While America has seen numerous Islamic terrorist attacks, the rate of individual Communist attacks has declined. The red-green alliance between leftists and Islamists is partly a means of revitalizing the terrorist capabilities of the Left. That’s why they’re celebrating Rodriguez’s murders because they’re not an outlier, the murders are where they want America to go.
Daniel, it seems the young man, at the very least, was not Jewish. He was Christian and from what I’m reading, he was born a Christian. (I think in Germany, but don’t quote me.) Not sure about the young woman as I haven’t read or heard anything regarding her religion. But I’m sure you want to get your details right. No need to post this. Just a message to you about that piece of your writing. fyi
Adopted into the family of the Jewish Savior at my difficult adult conversion to Christ 55 years ago makes me very sympathetic for the original Tribe.
These murderous nut jobs need to move to Gaza, they being so righteous and morally superior to anyone not them.
Excellent coverage Daniel.
I was thinking about the point that it was a typical Lenin-Trotsky type assassination, aimed at furthering the Revolution.
If Winston Churchill had access to thermonuclear weapons and means to deliver them, he could have stopped The First Jewish Holocaust dead in its tracks. This is the position Israel finds itself today.