The FBI is aware of and police are investigating, the authenticity of an anti-Israel manifesto that preceded the shooting deaths of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night, the New York Post reported.
The suspect in the murders, Elias Rodriguez, allegedly blasted out the 900-word manifesto bearing his name online, according to the report. It was dated May 20.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Thursday, "The FBI is aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect," adding he hoped to have an update regarding authenticity "very soon."
Rodriguez, who shouted "Free, free Palestine" after Yaron Lischinsky, an Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrim, an American, were gunned down outside of a Jewish museum, is the sole suspect, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday. He admitted to shooting the pair, witnesses and D.C. law enforcement said.
According to the Post, the manifesto implies the killings were an act of political protest against Israel's war in Gaza against the Hamas terrorists. The missive said those "of us against the genocide" have "forfeited their humanity," the Post reported.
"Humanity doesn't exempt one from accountability. The action would have been morally justified taken 11 years ago during Protective Edge, around the time I personally became acutely aware of our brutal conduct in Palestine," read the manifesto, according to the Post.
"But I think to most Americans such an action would have been illegible, would seem insane. I am glad that today at least there are many Americans for which the action will be highly legible and, in some funny way, the only sane thing to do," it added, the Post reported.
Lischinsky and Milgrim were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum that focused on bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza, IsraAID, an independent Israel-based aid group, said in a statement.
Rodriguez, a Chicago native, was being interviewed by Washington police and the FBI early Thursday for the slayings of Lischinsky and Milgrim.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said, "the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offense."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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