May 22, 2025

The Lebanese Minister of Labor, Moustafa Bayram, has issued a statement praising the murder of two young Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC last night.

Yaron Lischinsky and his soon-to-be fiancé, Sarah Milgrim, were gunned down in the street after leaving an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington DC allegedly by far-left antisemite Elias Rodriguez, who yelled “Free, Free Palestine!” as he was taken into custody.

Rodriguez appears to have a long history of far-left activism including support for Black Lives Matter (BLM), communist, and anti-white causes, including the “People’s Congress of Resistance” in Chicago. He posted a manifesto at X expressing hatred for Israel shortly before the shooting saying: “Escalate for Gaza, bring the war home.”

In a post on the X platform responding to a video showing Rodriguez’s arrest, Minister Bayram wrote the following (translated by Google):

“Give us Elias Rodriguez, the hero and human being, and take away many, many of the scoundrels, the servile ones, and the agents in our country…Israel is an enemy of humanity.”

“This virulent strain of Jew hatred must be stamped out if Lebanon is to have a future,” said AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar. “It is hard to imagine a more heartless and thoughtless reaction to such a horrific crime committed against two innocent young people at the very beginning of their lives than this. Bayram should be removed from office immediately.”

“This is a real-life example of where slogans such as ‘globalize the intifada’ naturally lead – to the targeting of Jews on the streets of America,” added AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “Antisemitism is a sign of grave moral decay and societal breakdown. It must be defeated in the hearts of all decent human beings.”