Elias Rodriguez has been charged with the murder of a young Israeli couple whom he allegedly shot in cold blood in the heart of DC last week. Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, were both in their 20's and had plans to become engaged. Now they are dead because some guy who was born in Chicago thought he should kill innocents on one side of a conflict taking place on a different continent 6,000 miles away. Rodriguez told police as he was taken into custody, "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza."

Rodriguez had been a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and was quoted in an article on the group's website back in 2017. After the shooting, the article was deleted. While the PSL denied that Rodriguez was a current member of the group, it did acknowledge that he had a "brief association" in the past. I have covered numerous protests sponsored by the PSL. The organization pulls permits for demonstrations and prints thousands of signs and pamphlets to get everyone on the same page.

I covered a PSL-sponsored Black Lives Matter protest in Philadelphia in October of 2020.

The increased police presence around the protest resulted in mass looting of shopping malls in the surrounding area.

Regardless of whether Rodriguez was still an active member at the time of the shooting, this killing begs the question of how and why the lines between activism and violence have been blurred to the point where Rodriguez could commit such an act with the belief that he was doing something good.

For the answer to that question, look no further than the tribalization of the American political discourse over the last nine years. When every election is presented as an existential battle and the opposing party is cast as Nazis or Communists, this is the end result. When citizens think that it is their responsibility to solve every injustice around the world via their social media posts, we get keyboard warriors taking to the streets to fight on behalf of a cause they do not understand. It’s protest tourism.

A message from our sponsor (piece continues below)

Together With AMAC

Tired of AARP? There’s a Better Option – And It’s FREE

If you’re 50 or older and looking for a conservative alternative to AARP, now’s the perfect time to make the switch.

AMAC – the Association of Mature American Citizens – is America’s fastest-growing senior organization, and right now, they’re offering a FREE membership for a limited time. That’s right – no credit card, no strings attached.

With AMAC, you’ll be part of a community that shares your values: faith, family, and freedom. Members enjoy access to exclusive benefits, including:

• Money-saving discounts on travel, insurance, and everyday essentials

• The AMAC Magazine, packed with news and insights from a conservative perspective

• Updates on the issues that matter most to you – like Social Security, Medicare, Border Security, and more!

• A chance to get involved through AMAC Action, their grassroots advocacy network

Whether you’re looking to save money, stay informed, or make a difference, AMAC is here for you – and now it won’t cost you a dime to get started.

👉 Join the movement today and claim your free membership at

Claim My Free Membership

(Continued)

At the same April 5 Palestine protest pictured above, I witnessed a white woman buy a keffiyeh for $40. I purchased the exact same keffiyeh for the purpose of protecting myself from dust storms in Lebanon for $1.

Covering protests in DC and around the country over the last decade, I have witnessed radical groupthink turn listless Americans into conduits for violence and hate.

At an anti-Netanyahu protest in front of Union Station in July of 2024, I was called a "Zionist" because I refused to pledge my allegiance to Palestine on a public American street.

The woman in the video was vandalizing the Columbus Fountain and when I asked her politely why she was doing it she asked, "Do you support Palestine?" I replied, "I support free speech in the United States." She pressed, “do you support Palestine?” I replied again, “I lived in Jordan… and I believe America is the last hope we have.” She began shouting that I was a "Zionist," which is akin to putting a fatwa on my head in this kind of a crowd. Noticing that the woman had Arabic tattoos, I responded in the language she had inked on her chest. I will admit that before I ran away, I swore at her in Arabic just to see if she understood. It turned out the woman didn't understand a word.

In the digital age, everyone thinks their opinion matters regardless of whether they actually know anything about the subject at hand. They think that if they get a tattoo in Arabic or wear a keffiyeh then that means they are somehow righteous and exotic. It just so happens that the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most complex and enduring conflicts of the modern day. I studied Middle Eastern History and Arabic at one of the best programs in the country, lived in Amman, Jordan for the six months leading up to the Arab Spring, traveled to Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and what did I learn?

I learned that the conflict was engineered by the British over a century ago, when they promised the Promised Land to both the Arabs and the Jews. I learned that America inherited this mess after the collapse of the British Empire, and has funded nation states on both sides of the conflict to the tune of billions of dollars in foreign aid per year. I learned that most of the policy makers in the U.S. have zero clue how deeply the tribal and sectarian divisions run in this region (read: our disastrously misguided invasion of Iraq), and that we have been keen to meddle in the region ever since the petrodollar became the reserve currency for the entire world. But Israel doesn't have any oil. And neither does Palestine.

I learned that it is not my place to try to undo thousands of years of warfare in a faraway land. I learned how lucky I was to call the Land of the Free home, and decided to work on making that place better instead.

After learning these things, I decided against using my Arabic for anything beyond surprising the occasional Uber driver or swearing at angry protesters just to prove they don't speak a lick of the language that they have tattooed on their chest.

In America we are fortunate enough to have an entire ocean separating us from the irreconcilable blood feuds of the Old World. Whether the reader may support Israel or Palestine, don't bring that violence into the New World, where all of us—Jews, Arabs and the rest—are provided with the blessed opportunity for a fresh start.

We are already witnessing our American streets stained with the same blood that has been pouring into that desert since Cain slew his twin. As Americans we may think that we can fix every problem in every corner of the world, but this is a naive notion and we cannot. So protest all you want, speak out against Israel or Palestine, and vote accordingly, that's your right. But no American has the right to call for and commit violence against fellow countrymen simply because their ancestors were born in a different country or because they have different ideas.