The father of the terrorist who killed two Israeli embassy staffers on Wednesday was invited to attend President Donald Trump’s March joint address in Congress at the behest of a far-Left member of Congress.

Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL), who called for a ceasefire on October 7, 2023, as Hamas terrorists were still raping and slaughtering Israeli civilians, hosted Eric Rodriguez—the father of suspected murderer Elias Rodriguez— at Trump’s March 4 speech.

“Eric Rodriguez was our guest during the President’s Joint Speech to Congress, but we don’t know his family,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García told the New York Post Thursday.

Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was detained by police on suspicion of murdering Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. The couple was shot at close range, and Milgrim was shot multiple times while crawling away, according to court documents. According to police, the terrorist told officers he “did it for Palestine.”

TWO ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS MURDERED BY KEFFIYEH-WEARING MAN SHOUTING ‘FREE PALESTINE’ IN DC

García announced Rodriguez’s invitation the day before the speech, claiming that “his presence at the Joint Address is a powerful statement: we will not sit back while veterans and workers are treated as political pawns.”

Rodriguez is a disabled Army veteran and an employee at Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in Illinois, according to the statement.

“We’ve seen this playbook before—divide and weaken workers, then hand over public services to private interests,” García wrote. “But this time, we’re ready. With leaders like Eric and the power of our unions, we’re fighting back stronger than ever.”

In a video for the Service Employees International Union on the same day, Rodriguez said he was in Washington, D.C., because he is “concerned about what Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE are doing to the VA system.”

FRIENDS, FAMILY REACT TO MURDER OF ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS BY KEFFIYEH-WEARING TERRORIST

García has been a critic of Israel since it launched its defense war against Hamas, including opposing military aid to Israel; last April, he claimed that he rejects “U.S. complicity in the devastation of Palestinian life in Gaza.” García said he opposed sending offensive weapons because “it would signal support for an expanded invasion of Rafah,” the city where six hostages were murdered shortly before being found by the IDF and where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was later killed.

“The US cannot continue to be complicit in the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza,” he posted.

In September, García opposed cutting funding to UNRWA, despite its workers’ participation in the October 7 massacre and the testimony of hostages saying they were held in UNRWA facilities. UNRWA has also been criticized for promoting antisemitism in its schools and promoting Palestinian dependency on the global community by granting refugee status to the descendants of refugees, which no other group is granted.

On Friday, a group of over 50 House Republicans introduced a resolution condemning the murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky.

Sarah Milgrim, an American citizen and Israeli embassy staffer, was murdered on Wednesday night when attending an event with her boyfriend. The attacker has a history of anti-Israel and radical leftist rhetoric. (Photo: X)

Elias Rodriguez was once affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a leftist group linked to Chinese Communist Party funding networks that have been repeatedly contacted by sanctioned Iranian state media, according to a report.

RUBIO THREATENS TO SNATCH VISAS FROM ‘PRO-HAMAS THUGS’ AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Sarah Milgrim’s father, who is an American Jew from the Kansas City suburbs, said his daughter was dedicated to peace-building. She was a full-time employee at the embassy’s Department of Public Diplomacy. 

At a Wednesday night press conference, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said Lischinsky and Milgrim were about to get engaged.

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“The couple that was gunned down tonight in the name of free Palestine is a couple that was about to be engaged,” he said. “The 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.”

Lischinsky, 30, was a German-Israeli dual citizen and a devout evangelical Christian who immigrated to Israel at the age of 16 and served in the Israel Defense Forces.

Harvard University filed a lawsuit on Friday in the United States District Court to challenge the Trump administration’s revocation of Harvard’s capacity to enroll students from abroad.

The lawsuit from Harvard claimed Noem’s revocation was a “blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”

On Thursday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem alerted the public of the revocation, writing on X:

This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.

This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.

It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025

In her letter to Harvard, Noem noted:

As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus. All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program regulations, to maintain this privilege. As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, you have lost this privilege.

In April, Harvard sued the Trump administration after the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding.

On May 5, Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote Harvard University president Alan Garber, “The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these “students” come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE?”

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“These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?” she continued. “Harvard University has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor.”

Dear @Harvard: pic.twitter.com/XmMimXfkX0

— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) May 5, 2025