It's the same old pattern. An obvious hate crime. An obvious act of terror.
Yet public authorities and the media are reticent about calling it for what it is. Worried about offending certain groups, and being accused of hate themselves?
We see the same phenomenon in response to the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in DC last night by a man yelling "Free, Free Palestine," and who told an eyewitness, "I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza."
On CNN This Morning, CNN security analyst Juliette Kayyem, a former Obama DHS appointee, said:
"We can't deny [that] the suspect said Free Palestine. He killed two Israelis. There may be either a hate crime or a federal crime, of course."
Her mention of a "federal crime" was a reference to possible terrorism charges.
There "may be" a hate crime?
Funny, Kayyem wasn't nearly so reticent in talking about Donald Trump. In this Mother Jones article entitled "How Trump Unleashed a Domestic Terrorism Movement—And What Experts Say Must Be Done to Defeat It," the expert most cited in support of its "domestic terrorism" accusation was Kayyem. Excerpt [emphasis added]:
“The term ‘dog whistle’ is too benign here. This is true incitement,” [Kayyem] says. “This is an understanding of how language is going to be interpreted for action.” Most media and political analysts hesitated to talk about Trump in such stark terms, but Kayyem concluded that Trump’s behavior had to be called out for what it was: The president, she told me in December, was 'promoting terrorism.'”
So even the far-left Mother Jones seemed surprised that in accusing Trump of "promoting terrorism," Kayyem was willing to go further than "most media and political analysts."
But Kayyem suddenly turns shy when it comes to calling the DC shooting for what it was: an unspeakable antisemitic hate crime.
Last year, our Nicholas Fondacaro caught Kayyem demanding that universities like her Harvard alma mater "allow space" for pro-Hamas demonstrators. Kayyem accused police on campus dealing with the mayhem of "terrifying students" who were just "expressing their dismay with the war.”
Note: Over at MSNBC, there was a similar reluctance to tell the truth of the matter. On today's Morning Joe, instead of reporting the obvious fact of a hate crime, NBC News reporter Alice Barr hid behind the statement that "Investigators are working to pin down whether this was a hate crime, or potentially, an act of terrorism." Video here.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
5/22/25
6:00 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: I want to start with that deadly shooting on the streets of the nation's capital. So this happened last night, as two Israeli embassy staffers were leaving the Capital Jewish Museum.
Police say a man was seen pacing back and forth prior to approaching, and then he opened fire. Police have identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago.
Video obtained by CNN shows the moment of his arrest. He was chanting, Free, Free Palestine.
ELIAS RODRIGUEZ: Free, Free Palestine! Free, Free Palestine!
CORNISH: There was an eyewitness who told CNN about her interaction with the suspect.
EYE WITNESS: I say, do you know where you are? He doesn't say anything. And I say, you're at, like, a Jewish museum. And immediately he takes a few steps back and he starts yelling, I did it, I did it, talking about shooting and killing the innocent people outside who had just attended the event, who had just left. And he's screaming, I did it, I did it, I did it for Gaza, I did it for Palestine, Free Palestine.
CORNISH: So right now, CNN also learning new information about the victims. This morning, the embassy posted a photo of them. The Israeli ambassador to the U.S. said they were a couple about to be engaged.
YECHIEL LEITER: The couple that was gunned down tonight in the name of Free Palestine, it's a young couple about to be engaged. The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.
. . .
CORNISH: Joining me now, former assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security and CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, thanks for being with us this morning.
JULIETTER KAYYEM: Yes, thank you for having me.
CORNISH: We played tape earlier of the suspect yelling, Free Palestine. Talk about how law enforcement assesses the hate crime or terrorism aspect of this.
KAYYEM: Yes, and this is sort of early, obviously, in this horrible, essentially, assassination from what we can tell. And so there's going to be two pieces to it.
This is, of course, the homicide in the streets of DC or outside the museum. So the Washington police are going to be investigating it as such.
. . .
The other piece, of course, is the piece that we can't deny. Which is obviously the suspect said Free Palestine. He killed two Israelis. There may be either a hate crime or a federal crime, of course.
