Rabbi calls DC response to antisemitism ‘inadequate’ after lethal taking pictures | USAEMALL.com

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld went to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2024, to pray for the safe return of the hostages. While he was there, Herzfeld was harassed by protesters who were accused of deafening him with megaphone sirens.

The rabbi was then falsely accused of stalking and was later vindicated, with the accusers being ordered to pay for his $182,000 legal bills. Despite this, Herzfeld views the D.C. leadership’s response to antisemitism as “insufficient,” especially in light of the murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.

“There’s a pattern here of the D.C. government not doing enough to protect the Jewish community. And I said that to Mayor Bowser, and I think that enough is enough,” Herzfeld told Fox News Digital.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag at Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld as he tries to pray in front of the Israeli Embassy on March 22, 2024.  (Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld )

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Herzfeld said he has known D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser personally “for many years” and that he believes she is “a good person, a genuine person.” However, the rabbi still holds Bowser responsible for allowing an “antisemitic environment” to grow in D.C. to the point where Jewish residents feel unsafe — something the rabbi said he has heard from many Jews, including his own daughter. He told Fox News Digital that he holds the mayor responsible for “tolerating” antisemitism since Oct. 7. 

Elias Rodriguez, who was charged with the murders of Lischinsky and Milgrim, was heard shouting “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested. According to court documents, he told D.C. police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.”

Police officers work at the site where, according to the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, two Israeli embassy staff members were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

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After the reported statements by Rodriguez, and what he was heard shouting in a viral video, Herzfeld told Fox News Digital that it gives D.C. Jews “even more reason to be scared.”

“So, nobody’s talking about taking away the rights to free speech. Everybody has the right to speak in a way that’s part of society, in a way that does not endanger and threaten people. And now we know that those people who were at the at these rallies, which were being done in a frenzy, a threatening, intimidating manner, there’s a reason why people are scared, because some people who associate with them are violent, and this person who went and killed, murdered.”

“On the streets of D.C. to people who supported Israel, this person was associated with that group. He shouted free Palestine. And so now we have even more reason to be scared as these free Palestine protesters are giving carte blanche on the street of D.C.”

National Park Service workers attempt to remove graffiti at Union Station on July 25, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, Bowser’s office referred to the mayor’s remarks at a news conference on May 22 following the shooting.

“We are here to echo what the U.S. attorney has said, that this crime will not be tolerated in our city,” Bowser said. She also lamented that D.C. has had “practice standing together as a community to fight antisemitism both in hate speech and hateful acts.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who also spoke at the press conference, said she would not tolerate violent crimes such as the deadly shooting in front of the Jewish museum.