PITTSBURGH — One day after a vehicle tossed fliers denigrating Jews throughout the historic Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, shouting antisemitic epithets as they went, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were gunned down outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
The horrific murder, along with the constant targeted intimidation tactics in Jewish communities, as well as on the campuses of the country’s elite universities, has left Jews across the country rattled.
Julie Paris, a Squirrel Hill resident, said the fear is within all of them daily. “It is there in everything we do as families, with our children and in our communities,” she said of the non-stop threats that have plagued the neighborhood and its robust business district for nearly two years.
One of the fliers read, “Every single aspect of the Jewish Talmud is satanic.”
Corey O’Connor, an elected official who won the Democratic primary race for Pittsburgh mayor on Tuesday, said, “Despicable antisemitic acts like those taking place in Squirrel Hill today have no place in our city.”
Residents said the fliers were in clear bags weighted with corn kernels. This gave them more distance when thrown from a moving vehicle.
Paris, who had recently returned from a family trip to Israel, was stunned by the fliers. The fence at nearby Carnegie Mellon University was also painted with antisemitic language.
“Once again, Jewish families in Squirrel Hill were terrorized with antisemitic rhetoric and literature from the Goyim Defense League,” she said.
According to the ADL’s website, GDL’s overarching goal is to expel Jews from America, so it spreads antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories in hopes of turning the public against Jewish people.
Paris said the disturbing trend of intimidation tactics is contributing to the dramatic rise of antisemitism and needs to be called out by all good people who recognize the threats that currently exist for Jews everywhere.
“Allowing the normalization of antisemitic rhetoric is not only dangerous for Jews, but also will ultimately contribute to the demise of society as a whole,” she said.
The intimidation tactics were spread throughout the neighborhood that suffered tremendously in 2018 when the worst massacre of Jews in the United States happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Eleven congregants were murdered.
Since the deadly October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, threats to Jews in the U.S. have tripled, according to an audit done by the Anti-Defamation League, which reported that over 10,000 antisemitic incidents happened between October 2023 and September 2024, up from 3,325 incidents the prior year.
The ADL noted that the number marked the most incidents recorded in 12 months in its audit process since it started tracking threats in 1979.
“Jewish Americans really haven’t had a moment of respite,” noted Paris.
Author and Fox News host Mark Levin addressed the incident head-on in an early morning segment of Fox and Friends, saying Hamas sympathizers are immersing themselves into multiple corners of society, particularly in universities. Agitators are fueling the antisemitic hatred that ultimately prompted the murders of Lischinsky and Milgrim, the two Israeli Embassy staffers who were gunned down late Wednesday night.
The New York Times bestselling author said these sympathizers are marching through the streets in our country, calling for the destruction of the U.S. and the overthrow of the West, burning the American flag, chasing Jewish students on college campuses, and threatening elderly Jews.
Levin warns the country is under attack, “from the enemy within.”
Video has emerged taken from in front of the Jewish Museum in Washington as the gunman was being arrested, with him chanting, “free, free Palestine” after the shooting, according to law enforcement.
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The young couple, who were about to get engaged, were exiting the museum after attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee when the gunman opened fire. On Thursday, the suspect was identified by police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago.
Rodriguez was charged federally and will appear in U.S. district court as early as today. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted to X that authorities are working to confirm whether certain writings are linked to Rodriguez.