(The Center Square) – Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed late Wednesday in Washington, D.C., in what officials are describing as a targeted antisemitic attack and act of terror.

The shooting occurred outside the Capital Jewish Museum following an event for diplomats. Multiple media reports say the alleged shooter repeatedly shouted, “Free Palestine,” following the attack.

The Israeli Embassy identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in a social media post, calling the pair “friends and colleagues.”

“This evening, a terrorist shot and killed them as they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in DC. The entire embassy staff is heartbroken and devastated by their murder. No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss,” the embassy added.

The FBI was on scene quickly, as the shooting occurred a short distance from the headquarters. Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, confirmed the suspect had been taken into custody and was being interviewed by D.C. Metropolitan Police and members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

“Last night’s act of terror has the full attention of your FBI. Targeted acts of anti-Semitic violence are typically carried out by spineless, gutless cowards. And the penalties will be harsh as we tighten up this investigation and run down any additional leads. I should have additional updates for you shortly as I head back to FBI HQ,” Bongino posted to X.

Attorney General Pam Bondi was also on scene following the attack. According to a post from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she had been in contact following the shooting.

President Donald Trump quickly condemned the attacks, also describing the attack as antisemitic.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!,” the president posted on his Truth Social account.

Netanyahu said in response that he was instructing security officials to “strengthen protection” for Israeli missions worldwide, while raising “the level of security for all state envoys.”

The shooting in D.C. follows a string of antisemitic uprisings and attacks, including violent protests at several universities across the country and a 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Penn., killing 11 worshipers.

(The Center Square) — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Wednesday that demands an “immediate and aggressive response across multiple state agencies to address a major breach at the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility. 

Ten inmates at the New Orleans facility escaped on Friday after removing a toilet and burrowing through a hole in the wall, even writing “to [sic] easy LOL” as a bit of parting graffiti.

Five of them have been caught, but the remainder are still at large. 

“Our criminal justice system is a three-legged bar stool. If one fails, the whole system collapses,” Landry said in a news release. “This brings us to where we are today – New Orleans willingly handed the jail keys to those leaders who vowed to keep criminals out of jail. Sadly, it worked.

“However, the state will not sit idly by. We are taking immediate, decisive action to ensure that this never happens again. The people of Louisiana deserve not only transparency and accountability, but also a justice system that is unyielding in its commitment to public safety – and our executive order demands it. Enough is enough.”

(The Center Square ) – A north Texas district court has ruled in favor of Texas in a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over its Biden-era Enforcement Guidance on bathroom and pronoun policies.

Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other federal officials to block an EEOC guidance that redefined the meaning of “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Center Square reported.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division, the same court where Paxton filed a lawsuit in 2021 to block similar EEOC guidance, which the court struck down.

In 2021, the EEOC issued guidance requiring employers to allow exceptions for employees with stated “gender preferences and identities” to use bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, dress codes and personal pronouns contrary to their biological sex. Texas argued the guidance was unlawful and increased the scope of liability for all employers, including the state of Texas, which employed roughly 140,000 people in September 2022, according to the state comptroller’s office.

The lawsuit was later amended to include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a defendant after the agency promulgated a new rule threatening to cut federal funding to states that prohibit “sex-change” procedures on minors and classify the procedure as child abuse. Biden administration guidances would have allowed biological males to use women’s facilities and abolished sex-specific workplace dress codes.

The court struck down both rules, vacated the 2021 guidance and issued a binding declaratory judgment between the EEOC and Texas.

A similar ruling was issued on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. The 2024 guidance sought to redefine “discrimination” to include “gender identity,” opening up private and state employers to lawsuits if they didn’t adopt sweeping “transgender inclusive policies” and comply with “pronoun police,” Paxton argued.

“The Biden Administration unlawfully tried to twist federal law into a tool for advancing radical gender ideology by attempting to force employers to adopt ‘transgender’ policies or risk being sued,” Paxton said. “The federal government has no right to force Texans to play along with delusions or ignore biological reality in our workplaces. This is a great victory for common sense and the rule of law.”

Kacsmaryk’s 34-page ruling says the EEOC exceeded its statutory authority and its guidance was “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent” and vacated it.

He also rejected EEOC’s arguments, said it misread the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v Clayton County, “cited no binding authority for its metastasized definition of ‘sex,’” and contravened Title VII by defining discriminatory harassment to include transgender bathroom, pronoun and dress preferences. He also said if Congress wanted to redefine “sex” in Title VII to include “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” it would have. “But it did not,” he wrote. “Congress has the power to amend statutes to add accommodations, EEOC does not. Yet that’s exactly what the enforcement guidance does.”

Kacsmaryk also listed sections of the guidance that he said are unlawful and vacated them.

The Trump administration EEOC is unlikely to appeal the ruling.