Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest

Summary

Up First from NPR – May 22, 2025

NPR's "Up First" delivers the three biggest stories to start your day. In today's episode, hosts Michelle Martin and Amy Martinez cover the tragic killing of Israeli embassy employees in Washington D.C., Israel's intensified plans in Gaza amidst a humanitarian crisis, and the latest developments in President Trump's domestic agenda as House Republicans race to pass a significant bill. Below is a detailed summary of each key story discussed.

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1. Tragic Shooting of Israeli Embassy Employees in Washington D.C.

Incident Overview

At approximately 9 PM last night, two Israeli embassy staff members were fatally shot outside a Jewish museum in downtown Washington D.C. The victims, Yaron Liszinski and Sarah Lynn Milgram, were part of an event organized by the American Jewish Committee for young Jewish foreign policy professionals.

Details of the Shooting

• Location & Context: The shooting occurred just under a mile from the U.S. Capitol during a networking event at a local Jewish museum.
• Perpetrator: The shooter, later identified as Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, was seen pacing before opening fire on the attendees. He was detained by event security shortly after chanting "Free Palestine" (00:02 – 00:45).
• Victims: Yaron Liszinski, a researcher focused on the Middle East and North Africa, and Sarah Lynn Milgram, who worked in public diplomacy at the Israeli embassy, were the victims. Liszinski was reportedly preparing to propose to Milgram in Jerusalem (03:03 – 03:22).

Official Reactions

• President Donald Trump: Condemned the attack as an act of anti-Semitism (01:04).
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Expressed deep sorrow for the victims and announced increased security at Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide (07:29).
• U.S. Officials: Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the incident as "a brazen act of cowardly anti-Semitic violence," while Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized the need to root out anti-Semitism from society (03:25 – 04:13).

Investigation Status

Federal authorities, including the FBI, are investigating the shooting as a potential hate crime and possible act of terrorism. Initial reports indicate no prior encounters Rodriguez had with law enforcement, and motives beyond his pro-Palestinian chant remain under investigation (01:20 – 02:37).

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle Martin (00:02): “Two Israeli embassy employees were shot to death in Washington, D.C. last night outside of a Jewish museum.”
• Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (03:30): “Anti-Semitism is a threat to all we hold dear as a society must be confronted and rooted out everywhere.”

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2. Israel's Intensified Plans in Gaza Amid Humanitarian Crisis

Aid and Blockade Developments

After nearly three months of total blockade restricting food and essential supplies, Israel has begun allowing a limited flow of aid into Gaza. The United Nations reports that only a handful of bakeries are operational in south and central Gaza, and roughly 200 trucks carrying critical supplies have entered the enclave so far—a significant reduction from the 600 trucks daily during the January ceasefire (04:19 – 04:48).

Prime Minister Netanyahu's Stance

In his first press conference with Israeli journalists in five months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined plans to expand military operations in Gaza. He aims to push all Palestinians from northern Gaza to the already devastated southern region, citing conditions for ending the war, including the release of hostages, Hamas disarmament, and the implementation of President Trump's proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza fully (04:30 – 06:32).

International and Local Reactions

• United Nations: Criticized Israel's actions as potential ethnic cleansing, highlighting the systematic destruction of neighborhoods and denial of humanitarian aid (06:32).
• Hamas: Condemned Netanyahu's pledge, arguing it undermines the U.S.'s role as a mediator.
• Palestinian Voices: NPR's Ennis Baba shared the harrowing story of Ilham Abdel Hafed, a mother in Gaza struggling to feed her malnourished daughter due to the scarcity of essential supplies (06:32 – 07:23).

Israeli Government Response to the Shooting

Following the embassy shooting, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister reiterated their condemnation, labeling the act as anti-Semitic. Netanyahu announced increased security measures for Israeli missions globally (07:23 – 07:53).

Notable Quotes:

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (04:43): “We will push all Palestinians who are in northern Gaza right now into an area in the south.”
• UN Human Rights Chief (06:32): “All of this appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza, and that is against international law. It is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”

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3. House Republicans' Push to Pass President Trump's Domestic Agenda

Bill Overview and Legislative Maneuvering

House Republicans are in the final stages of attempting to pass a substantial bill central to President Trump's domestic agenda before Memorial Day. The bill includes several key provisions:

• Tax Extensions: Extends President Trump's 2017 tax cuts beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of the year.
• Immigration and Energy Reforms: Implements major policy changes, including no tax on tips and raising the cap on state and local tax deductions for individuals and couples.
• Medicaid Adjustments: Phases out certain energy tax credits and moves up new work requirements for Medicaid to the following year to appease fiscal conservatives within the GOP.

Challenges and Progress

• House Floor Debates: Despite initial hurdles from House Freedom Caucus members and Democratic opposition aiming to delay the process, substantial progress has been made. Speaker Mike Johnson expressed optimism about the bill's passage, stating, “I believe we are going to land this airplane” (08:11 – 08:18).
• Negotiations and Amendments: After extensive negotiations, including a pivotal White House meeting to secure GOP holdouts, the bill now incorporates changes designed to address deficit concerns and secure broader support within the Republican conference (08:38 – 09:31).
• Senate Prospects: While the House aims to send the bill to the Senate by Memorial Day, Senate Republicans have their own reservations, particularly regarding Medicaid cuts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune faces the task of reconciling these differences to advance the legislation (10:54 – 11:32).

Democratic Opposition

Although Democrats exert limited influence on the process, they have successfully delayed certain aspects of the bill through procedural tactics and strong opposition to potential Medicaid cuts, arguing that such measures could endanger coverage for many Americans (10:24 – 10:46).

Notable Quotes:

• House Speaker Mike Johnson (08:11): “I think that all of our colleagues here will really like this final product. We're excited.”
• Claudio Grisales (08:18): “They overcame a series of hurdles overnight from GOP holdouts to opposition from Democrats.”

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4. Additional Story: Justice Department Seeks to Withdraw Minneapolis Oversight Agreement

Although not the primary focus of today's episode, "Up First" briefly touches on the Justice Department's intention to withdraw an oversight agreement with the Minneapolis Police Department. This consent decree, established five years ago following the murder of George Floyd, is being questioned by the Trump-era Justice Department as "factually unjustified." Further details on this story are available on NPR's "Morning Edition" and the NPR website.

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Conclusion

Today's "Up First" episode provided comprehensive coverage of critical international and domestic issues, including the tragic attack on Israeli embassy staff, the escalating humanitarian and military situation in Gaza, and significant legislative developments in U.S. politics. With in-depth reporting and firsthand accounts, listeners are kept informed on events shaping the global and national landscape.

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For more detailed reporting and analysis, subscribe to "Up First+" for an enhanced, sponsor-free listening experience at plus.npr.org/upfirst. Support your local NPR station by donating at donate.npr.org.

Transcript

[Michelle Martin]

Two Israeli embassy employees were shot to death in Washington, D.C. last night outside of a Jewish museum. Local and federal authorities are investigating.

[Amy Martinez]

The killings come as Israel faces pressure over a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

[Michelle Martin]

I'm Michelle Martin with a Martinez and this is up first from NPR News. Aid is starting to trickle into Gaza after Israel lifted a nearly three month blockade on food and other essentials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also says he intend for Israel to take full control of the enclave.

[Amy Martinez]

And House Republicans are racing to pass President Trump's domestic agenda before Memorial Day.

[Mike Johnson]

I think that all of our colleagues here will really like this final product. We're excited. I believe we are going to land this airplane.

[Amy Martinez]

How does the bill look now and what's ahead in the Senate? Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day. Two staff members with the Israeli Embassy in Washington were shot and killed outside an event in downtown D.C. last night.

[Michelle Martin]

The shooter, police say, chanted Free Palestine after being detained. President Trump has condemned the shooting, calling it an act of anti Semitism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart ached for the victims.

[Amy Martinez]

NPR's Becky Sullivan joins us now. Becky, what do we know about what happened?

[Becky Sullivan]

Yeah, so this took place right around 9pm last night here in D.C. it was just outside an event for young Jewish foreign policy professionals. The event was put on by an advocacy organization called the American Jewish Committee. It was held at a local Jewish museum in downtown D.C. just under a mile from a capital capitol. Outside this event, a man was observed pacing back and forth, police said. And then a group of four people left this foreign policy professional networking event and the man opened fire, killed two of them. And so here's the the D.C. police chief, Pamela Smith, speaking to reporters about this late last night after the shooting.

[Michelle Martin]

The suspect then entered the museum and was detained by event security. The suspect chanted Free, free Palestine.

[Becky Sullivan]

And there's a video of him circulating on social media of this exact moment that the police chief describes. There's a keffiyeh with him that's just the recognizable scarf of the Palestinian movement. You can clearly hear him say those words, free, free Palestine before he is quickly detained by security. I mean taken outside. Police say they've tentatively identified this man as Elias Rodriguez. He's a 30 year old from Chicago. They say this early stage, apparently no prior encounters with law enforcement and still obviously a lot to learn about when why he came to D.C. whether these victims were targeted specifically. Specifically, the FBI says they are investigating this as a possible hate crime. A possible act of terrorism.

[Amy Martinez]

Okay, what do we know about the victims?

[Becky Sullivan]

Well, we know that they were a young couple, a man and a woman. Israel's Foreign Ministry has named them as Yaron Liszinski and Sarah Lynn Milgram. Milgram worked in public diplomacy at the embassy. Leshinsky was a researcher who focused on issues related to the Middle east and North Africa. And in fact, on his LinkedIn, he wrote about the importance of, quote, interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding when it comes to these issues. Israel's ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told reporters a little bit about the pair.

[Mike Johnson]

It's a young couple about to be engaged. A young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem. They were a beautiful couple who came to enjoy an evening in Washington's Cultural center.

[Becky Sullivan]

Obviously, just incredibly tragic situation.

[Amy Martinez]

Yeah, sure sounds that way. What's the reaction been from officials from everywhere?

[Becky Sullivan]

Yeah, I mean, there has been an outpouring of statements of condemnation from politicians, diplomats in the US And Israel and beyond. I mean, this is an incident that involves diplomatic staff on foreign soil. It's a really big deal. You mentioned Yahoo statement earlier. He blamed this attack on rising anti Semitism and what he called incitement against Israel. He also said he had ordered an increase to security at Israeli diplomatic missions around the world. Here in the US the condemnation came from both sides of the aisle. But President Trump, as you mentioned, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a brazen act of cowardly anti Semitic violence. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said anti Semitism is a threat to all we hold dear as a society must be confronted and rooted out everywhere. So a lot of unity there in this response.

[Amy Martinez]

That's NPR's Becky Sullivan. Becky, thanks for getting us up to date here.

[Becky Sullivan]

You're so welcome.

[Michelle Martin]

Moving to Gaza now, a trickle of aid has entered the enclave this morning. Israel has begun letting in aid trucks this week after its nearly three month long total blockade of everything from food to medic.

[Amy Martinez]

The United nations says a handful of bakeries are now operational in south and central Gaza. And last night, in his first press conference with Israeli journalists in five months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan to expand the war.

[Michelle Martin]

NPR's Hadil Al Shawshi is with us now with the latest from Tel Aviv. Good morning, Hadil.

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

Good morning.

[Michelle Martin]

So Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took questions from reporters last night. What did he say about Israel's stepped up military campaign now in Gaza?

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

Right. So Netanyahu went through his order for the Israeli military to mobilize this expansion of the war. He reiterated that the plan is to push all Palestinians who are in northern Gaza right now into an area in the south. And then, in fact, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for the entire northern part of Gaza yesterday. That's at least 100,000 Palestinians right now, according to Gaza first responders. And we need to know, like, the south is almost entirely destroyed because of the two years of war. It has very little resources, let alone space to live in. But Netanyahu also said that he is willing to end the war with certain conditions. The hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, and.

[Amy Martinez]

Trump.

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

We implement the Trump plan, He said. That's Trump's proposal to displace Palestinians out of Gaza fully. Netanyahu called it a brilliant and revolutionary plan. Yesterday, NPR sat down with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and he staunchly defended Israel's sovereign right to conduct the war as they need to. In a statement, Hamas condemned Netanyahu's pledge to Trump's plan, saying it undermined Washington's role as a, quote, mediator. And I'd like to mention the UN's human rights chief said that Israel's plan to force people to move under airstrikes, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods, the denial of humanitarian assistance. He said that all of this appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza, and that is against international law. And he said it is, quote, tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

[Michelle Martin]

Hadil, what have we heard from Palestinians inside Gaza?

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

Well, under this major international pressure, Israel finally said it would allow a, quote, minimal amount of aid into Gaza. According to the UN, about 200 trucks entered carrying some critical supplies. That's compared to 600 trucks which were crossing daily during the January ceasefire. So the UN is really calling this week's development a, quote, drop in the ocean. NPR's Ennis Baba met a woman at the malnutrition department of a hospital in Gaza City. Ilham Abdel Hafed was carrying her one year old daughter. She can't find milk to feed her baby anymore, so she's been giving her water instead. My daughter is very thin. The mother says she was in hospital because of malnutrition, hooked up to needles and IVs. I'd cry every day, my heart breaking for her, she said.

[Michelle Martin]

So, Hadil, if we could turn to the fatal shooting last night in dc, what's the reaction that you're hearing in Israel?

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

There's been a string of condemnation from Here, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and the foreign minister are calling or called the shooting despicable and anti Semitic. The Foreign Ministry posted a statement saying, quote, may their memory be a blessing. And Netanyahu has said that he's instructed to increase security at Israeli missions around the world.

[Michelle Martin]

That is NPR's Hadil El Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Hadil, thank you.

[Hadil Al Shawshi]

You're welcome.

[Amy Martinez]

After a long session on Capitol Hill, House Republicans might be closing in on passing a massive bill at the heart of President Trump's domestic agenda. Here's House Speaker Mike Johnson talking to reporters yesterday.

[Mike Johnson]

I think that all of our colleagues here will really like this final product. We're excited. I believe we are going to land this airplane.

[Michelle Martin]

The bill would, among other things, extend President Trump's 2017 tax cuts before they expire at the end of the year.

[Amy Martinez]

NPR's congressional correspondent Claudio Grisales has been following all this. Claudio? So despite, I mean, these long negotiations, it's not clear if the Republicans are going to land this plane. As the speaker says, where do things stand? Where's the plane?

[Mike Johnson]

Well, they're still trying to land right now. They're on the House floor at this very moment debating the bill. But they do appear to be closing in on potential passage of this massive tax and spending bill. It's quite the turnaround from just a few hours ago. They overcame a series of hurdles overnight from GOP holdouts to opposition from Democrats pushing this plan out of a House Rules Committee that lasted more than 20 hours. In a key procedural vote, President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson may have pulled off another one of these 12 punches we've seen a number of times this year to get GOP holdouts back in line. These fiscal conservatives, they're members of the House Freedom Caucus, may now be on board after an hours long White House meeting yesterday.

[Amy Martinez]

So, okay, House Republican leaders release an updated version of this plan. That's the plan that President Trump calls his, quote, big beautiful bill. What's different now?

[Mike Johnson]

Right after this White House meeting, as Johnson previewed to us, there was going to be some changes to the bill. We should note the big bill kept a lot of its big provisions. That includes extending the Trump tax plan, major policy changes in immigration and energy campaign promises like no tax on tips. It also has a major win for GOP supporters, raising the cap on state and local tax deductions for individuals and couples. But there were tweaks to the bill to win over these holdouts. Ultimately, that included moving up new work requirements for Medicaid to next year and phasing out some energy tax credits. These holdouts did successfully stall momentum on the plan over concerns it could add trillions to the US Deficit. But these changes, along with incoming plans for new presidential executive orders, appears to have flipped momentum back in the conference's favor.

[Amy Martinez]

We also saw Democrats work to delay the plan as well.

[Mike Johnson]

Right. Unlike the House Freedom Caucus members, however, Democrats don't have much influence here. However, they slowed the process down as much as possible, helping drag out that House rules hearing and leading fiery arguments on the floor railing against plans for cuts to Medicaid that could jeopardize coverage for many Americans.

[Amy Martinez]

Now, House Speaker Johnson had said he wanted the House to send this bill to the Senate by Memorial Day. So what's next for that to happen?

[Mike Johnson]

Right. This is a major step. It looks like they're on track, but there's still a very long way to go, as Senate Republicans have raised plenty of their own concerns about the bill already. So now, now Senate Majority Leader John Thune, coming with passage of this bill, will face a tough task which would be threading the needle between this plan and concerns from his conference from his own fiscal hawks in the chamber, as well as moderate concerns about those potential Medicaid cuts. So they've already made clear they plan to make a lot of changes to this House bill.

[Amy Martinez]

So maybe the landing gear isn't yet on the plane. Right.

[Mike Johnson]

They gotta switch it out. Yeah.

[Amy Martinez]

NPR's Claudi Grisales, thanks a lot.

[Mike Johnson]

Thank you.

[Amy Martinez]

And finally, the Justice Department says it wants to withdraw an oversight agreement negotiated with the Minneapolis Police Department. City leaders and the Justice Department signed the federal consent decree after a white police officer killed George Floyd, who was black, five years ago. They made the agreement just before President Biden left office. Now the Trump Justice Department says it's factually unjustified. More on that story on MORNING Edition, the radio show, and on our website, npr.org.

[Michelle Martin]

And that's up first for Thursday, May 22nd.

[Amy Martinez]

I'm Michelle Martin and Amy Martinez. How about listening to Consider THIS from npr. Up first covers three or more big stories of the day. Consider this gives you one story in depth in less than 15 minutes. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts.

[Michelle Martin]

Today's episode of up first was edited by Kevin Drew, Carrie Kahn, Kelsey Snell, Ali Schweitzer and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zach Coleman in Washington, D.C. and Josh Savageau at NPR in St. Paul, Minnesota. And our Technical Director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

[Claudio Grisales]

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