Statement by the Socialist Workers Party California Campaign for Governor and Mayor of Los Angeles on the Assassination of the Israeli Embassy Personnel
The Socialist Workers Party condemns in the strongest terms the May 21 assassination of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. The killer chanted, as he was being arrested according to press reports, “Free, free Palestine,” and “There’s only one solution—intifada, revolution.”
Milgrim and Lischinsky were attending an event at the Jewish Museum. They were targeted by the accused shooter for one and only one reason, because the shooter assumed they were Jewish. The scourge of Jew-hatred, endemic to capitalism, has been on the rise since the October 7, 2023, pogrom organized by Hamas in collaboration with the Iranian regime. Their goal on that day was to murder Jews. Their stated objective remains: to wipe out Jews in another holocaust and destroy the state of Israel.
Within moments of the October 7 brutal murders, rapes, and kidnappings of Jews, pro-Hamas mobs on campus and elsewhere began praising these heinous acts. Some organizations have called the October 7 pogrom a justifiable act of liberation or resistance for Palestinians. A group called Unity of Fields openly praises the killings in Washington, and urges others to do likewise.
These outfits are encouraged by lies peddled by Hamas, and pro-Hamas United Nations-related organizations. They ignore the Nazi roots of Hamas, or statements by Hamas leaders praising the deaths of Palestinians as martyrs even as Hamas imbeds its fighters in crowds, hospitals, and schools to maximize civilian deaths.
Imperialist governments around the world, led by the United States, pursue their own interests in the region and act as if Jews are expendable.The Socialist Workers Party has been outspoken since October 7 in staunchly defending Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews. We have a long history from our 1938 founding of opposing all forms of Jew-hatred. We build on the traditions of our movement and the example set by V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, who fought against pogroms in Russia before and after the Russian Revolution.
There are now mounting protests in Gaza against Hamas. The best interests of workers in Israel, Palestinians, and toilers in the surrounding region is for the rapid and decisive defeat of Hamas, and support for targeted strikes on Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity. Such a defeat of Hamas can open the door to working people in the region acting in their own interest and building revolutionary parties that cut across the divisions fostered by the capitalist governments. In doing so, they would deal an important blow to the march towards fascism and World War III.
SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY CAMPAIGN
2826 S. Vermont, Suite 1, Los Angeles, CA 90007
(323) 643-4968 ◆ swpla@att.net675 Hegenberger Road, Suite 250, Oakland, CA 94621 (510) 686-1351 ◆ oaklandswp@gmail.com
NORTON SANDLER FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA ◆ LAURA GARZA FOR MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES
To Consulate Generals of Israel Los Angeles and San Francisco Norton Sandler, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Governor of California
Laura Garza, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles
cc: Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles; Jewish Federation San Francisco; David Suissa, editor Jewish Journal; The Jewish News of Northern California; Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area
