Global News Podcast - Two Israeli embassy staff shot dead in Washington DC

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Israel's foreign minister says antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement linked to the war in Gaza lay behind the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington. Also: China stakes its claim to the Arctic.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernadette Keough and at 13Hours GMT on Thursday 22 May, these are our main stories. Two Israeli embassy staff have been killed in Washington DC. Israel's Foreign Minister blames anti-Semitism and anti-Israel incitement linked to the war in Gaza. North Korea's leader condemns the capsizing of a brand new warship as a serious accident. Record rainfall in eastern Australia, a natural disaster is declared. Also in this podcast China's staking its claim to the Arctic and... Little tiny bits of calcification the size of grains of sand. There wasn't a lump or

anything like that so it would never have been picked up. A new screening trial for women with dense breast tissue. We begin in Washington DC where an investigation is underway after two staff members of the Israeli Embassy were shot and killed on Wednesday evening outside the capital Jewish Museum. The victims, who the Embassy is named as Yaron Leschinsky and Sarah Milgram, were leaving the American Jewish Committee's annual Young Diplomats Reception. This was the moment the suspect was removed from the building. There was condemnation from the mayor of Washington DC Muriel Bowser.

The horrific incident is going to frighten a lot of people in our city and in our country. And I want to be clear that we will not tolerate this violence or hate in our city. We will not tolerate any acts of terrorism and we're going to stand together as a community in the coming days and weeks to send the clear message that we will not tolerate anti-Semitism. I spoke to our North America correspondent, Norma Iqbal, who was at the scene of the shooting. When we got here there were some people just outside on the pavement. I mean we are obviously behind the Corden Doth area where the Jewish Museum is, as the investigation is underway.

And people here were, of course, very shocked by what had happened. The police is, as I mentioned, still investigating exactly what happened. We know that the suspect is a 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago. He allegedly shouted, free Palestine, as police took him away.

And I think what also was very disturbing for the people here, according to them, they told us that after the gunshots, a man came into the building looking distressed and they thought he needed help, that he needed shelter. So they actually took care of him. They took him in. But once the police showed up, he said, free Palestine. I did this.

And it was shocking to them because he was sat amongst them. And that, you know, was obviously very disturbing for them. Now, in terms of his motive, you know, obviously, you know, we're hearing what he had said, but the police have said that he was the sole suspect and have reassured people in the area that it is safe not to worry, but I think there will be a lot of questions about security. This museum, in fact, had been worried about security not so long ago and were given a federal grant

to try and beef it up, but Jewish institutions across America have been worried for some time. So I think there will be questions, given that this was in central D.C. We're not far from the FBI headquarters. Exactly how this could have happened. What do we know of the victims, Nourmiya?

We know they are two members of the Israeli embassy, a man and a woman. They've been described as a couple, a young couple. And the Israeli ambassador to the US said that they were due to be engaged in fact in Jerusalem. What's been the reaction so far in the US? President Trump has called the attack anti-Semitic. He said it was based on anti-Semitism and he has said that he will do whatever it takes to clamp down on radicalism. You've got the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yech Yech El-Eta, who says he's spoken to President Trump and President Trump has promised to do everything possible to combat crimes against

Israel and Jews. The D.C. mayor here described this as an act of terrorism. As I said, the FBI and the police are investigating this to work out exactly what the motive was by the suspect, it's a one person that they suspect who is currently in custody. Nomiya Iqbal. In Jerusalem, Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sarr blamed a global climate of anti-semitism linked to the war in Gaza for the attack. There is a direct line connecting anti-semitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder.

This incitement is also done by leaders and officials of many countries and international organisations, especially from Europe. These libelies about genocide, crimes against humanity and murdering babies paved the way exactly for such murders. Our Middle East correspondent Yulan Nel told us more about reaction in Israel. First of all, of course, they have been sending out their thoughts to the families of this young couple, Sarah Milgram and Yaron Leshinsky. They were two young Israeli embassy staffers about to be engaged. And the rest of that suspect chanting pro-Palestine slogans,

it all comes, as you were saying, at a really sensitive moment. Israel has been, particularly in just the past few days, battling this very strong international criticism and there's been some domestic criticism too, about the conduct of its war in Gaza. So while we've had Israeli ministers condemning this shooting as a shocking act of anti-semitism, what we've also had is recriminations. They were led by the Prime Minister himself. He said, we're

witness, he said, to the terrible cost of anti-semitism and wild incitement against the state of Israel. He said there have been blood libel's against Israel and Israel was paying the price in blood. We then went on to have those comments from from Gideon Saar saying there's a direct line connecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement to this murder. This incitement is done by leaders and officials of many countries. And remember that this week we've had Britain, France and Canada, all key allies of Israel, issuing one of the most significant criticisms of its actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The UK went on to suspend free trade talks with Israel. And yet Netanyahu had, at a rare press conference just on Wednesday

evening, dismissed a lot of this criticism and he had said that unless there was a temporary ceasefire to bring back more hostages held by Hamas, that Israel would go ahead with its plan to intensify its military offensive in Gaza and take control of the whole strip. Well indeed the killing took place against the backdrop of heightened Israeli military action in Gaza. What's the latest situation there and in terms of aid, has more aid been able to get in? I mean we have just had a briefing by the Minister of Health in the Hamas run ministry in Gaza and he has given details, published a list of what he says of more than 16,500 children who have been killed since the start of this war back on the 7th of October 2023 in the wake of those deadly attacks that Hamas led

on Israel, killing 1,200 people. He said that 29 children had died of starvation-related deaths in recent days and many thousands more were at risk. We've also had the Israeli military issuing more forcible displacement orders in the north of Gaza, where it's been continuing its ground offensive. Really what we've seen in terms of aid getting in after Israel decided on Sunday that it would ease its total blockade that had gone on for 11 weeks of the Gaza Strip, it said to pressure Hamas. We have seen aid finally going in with the UN managing to pick that up despite security concerns on the Gazan side and we've seen security concerns on the Garzons side. And we've seen these pictures from the World Food Programme of bread being baked in a bakery

there. Yolande Nell in Jerusalem China isn't the first country you'd think of when it comes to the Arctic, but it has already declared itself a near-Arctic state, even though its northernmost regional capital is on the same latitude as Venice. It has a long-term plan to become a polar superpower, and that's causing tension between the other global heavyweights, Russia, the US and Europe. As our Europe editor, Kati Adler found when she visited Svalbard on Saturday, Norway's national day. Norway Day on Svalbard is quite something to behold. What does it mean to you Norway

Day? Today we celebrate the kids, it's about the future that they are and what they can do better than the rest of us. But the future looks challenging. These are times of rising tensions between global powers and you feel those tensions spilling over into the Arctic. Svalbard is a bit of a hotspot microcosm in all this. This archipelago is Norwegian, but it's governed by a treaty allowing people from all the countries that have signed it to work visa-free, mainly in mines and scientific research. Harmonious in theory, but since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine there's been a noticeable flexing of nationalist muscles. The mayor in Longyearbyen is Terje Aarnevik.

I think the reason why there is such a huge interest now for the Arctic, I think it's connected more to resources. The Arctic is huge. It covers 4% of the globe and it is now a focal point in the global rush for resources. It's seen as a region brimming with opportunity. I'm out on a glacier tour. This melting ice is opening up a world of possibilities and the big global powers know it and they're hungry for it. Whether it's fossil fuels, 30% of the world's natural gas supplies potentially untapped here, and new trade routes opening up. There's a part of the Norwegian mainland, the northernmost tip, about 500 miles from Svalbard, that is

hugely excited. I'm at Kirkenes port. What you hear is the sound of shipping containers being moved around me. Becoming the first European port of crawl eventually, depending how fast ice continues to melt, for masses of container ships from Asia, appeals to a lot of people here. Thierry Jorgensen is the port director in Kirkenes.

What we're trying to build here in Kirkenes is a trans-shipment port, meaning three continents meet, North America, Europe, and Asia. We take the goods onshore, and we reload another vessel. That's all what we do. Russia, North America, European powers, they already border the Arctic. But China, you don't think of that

as a traditional Arctic power power but it is most definitely staking a claim here as well. Chinese state television has been full of reports about October's first Chinese Coast Guard patrol with the Russians in the Arctic and how in July Chinese and Russian long-range bombers patrolled the Arctic Ocean near Alaska in the United States. In Svalbard, the Norway celebrations are going on deep into the daylit night. High north, low tension is what they used to boast here. Now though, the drumbeat of Arctic tension and rivalries is steadily getting louder. Katia Adler in Svalbard.

Now, a new breast screening trial in the UK has been able to pick up early stage cancers that remain hidden during regular mammograms because of dense breast tissue. The researchers use different scanning methods like an MRI or injecting a dye into the breast tissue. Professor Fiona Gilbert from the University of Cambridge says this method could be instrumental for finding and helping cancer patients. If we offered them these supplemental imaging tests we estimate we'd find an additional 3,500 small breast cancers and because we're finding them small we think we'd save over 700 lives a year and this is three times the number of breast cancers that

we would normally be finding in this group of patients. One of the women in the study was Louise Duffield who was diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer. This would never have been found through self-examination either, you know, because it wasn't a lump at that stage. Talking about sort of five or six little flecks about the size of grain of sand. Our health correspondent Sophie Hutchinson told us about the research. Scientists at Cambridge University recruited patients from 10 different places around the UK. A total of 9,000 women took part in this research and they all had very dense breast tissue and they had all been given the all-clear after the standard mammogram. They were

re-scanned using different methods including a FAST type of MRI and contrast enhanced mammography. And the result was that an additional 85 breast cancers were identified that couldn't be seen using the standard mammogram. And the reason that very dense breast tissue shows up as white on a regular mammogram, but so does breast cancer, so do tumours, so it's really hard on the regular mammogram but so does breast cancer, so do tumours, so it's really hard on the regular mammogram to identify the difference between healthy tissue and tumours. And this trial found that these two types of scans, the fast MRI and the CEM, the contrast enhanced mammography,

can identify tumours much more easily. The patient is given an injection of iodine before those scans and that lights up the blood vessels on the scan and tumours in the breast have lots of blood vessels so it makes them much more easy to find. It sounds like this approach could be a game-changer. Well it is very exciting. Around 10% of women have very dense breasts and they run an increased risk of breast cancer. They're four times more likely to develop the disease between the ages of 50 and 70 compared to other women and 2.2 million women are screened in the UK and this study suggests that an additional 3,500

cancers could be detected each year if these other types of scans were used. So you're potentially talking about possibly 700 lives saved a year. I mean, one of the big questions is, is it financially viable? Can we afford to do this? A previous study in Holland found that regular MRIs were very good at identifying breast cancers, but it's too expensive. But researchers think that these other methods, this faster type of MRI, or these other types of mammograms, could potentially be afforded and that it would be very exciting obviously for women. Sophie Hutchinson. Still to come, a new competition which will allow athletes to use performance

enhancing drugs. I think for a few years there will be a world of natural sport run by the Olympics and a world of enhanced sport run by us. As human beings we're only interested in seeing the as humans. The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has condemned what he called a serious accident which caused a brand new vessel to capsize at the launch ceremony which he was attending. Our Asia Pacific regional editor Celia Hatton told me more about what happened. Well, this was the launch of a multi-purpose destroyer, a 5,000 ton ship, which apparently was equipped with North Korea's most powerful weapons. As you said, the leader, Kim Jong-un,

was there at the launch of this ship, which apparently has been built in record time with Russian help. It seems that the bow of the ship pushed off from the dock before the stern. It didn't go as one. That's what really led to problems. The North Koreans say that parts of the bottom of the ship were crushed. We we now know from South Korean military intelligence that the ship is lying on its side. And so it's a real issue for Kim Jong-un. He's ordered for the ship to be fixed by late June. There's no real indication how the North Koreans are going to fix a 5,000-ton destroyer that quickly. Well, with him being there at the launch, how embarrassing is this and what else did

he have to say? Well, he was very quick to blame military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for this. He said it was a criminal incident, although it's also been described as an accident. But he did say that it's brought down the dignity and pride of North Korea in an instant. And he's given a bit of a threat. He says it will all be dealt with at the session of the party's central committee next month. That's the really important meeting that's happening next month inside North Korea.

He's also ordered for the ship, as I said, to be fixed by that meeting. Well, this comes also at a time when South Korea is reporting more rockets being fired by the North. Yeah, that's right. So a few hours after this botched launch, North Korea test-fired some missiles. We don't quite know what they test-fired yet, but we know that they were cruise missiles and so probably an attempt to distract from, as you said, what was quite an embarrassing incident for Kim Jong-un. Celia Hatton. 50,000 people in eastern Australia have been told that rising floodwaters mean they must leave their homes or prepare to be isolated inside

them. As we record this podcast, three people have now been found dead following extreme rain and widespread floods in the state of New South Wales. The Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said it was a very sad day and warned of worse to come. I must also say that we're bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community. It's affected a wide number of people, it's affected tens of thousands of houses and as a result we are bracing for more bad news. Some areas north of Sydney have had four months worth of rain in just a few days. More heavy downpours are forecast. From Sydney here's the BBC's Phil Mercer. Well Australia is

a land well used to nature's extremes, but certainly speaking to residents in northern parts of New South Wales state, they are describing a catastrophic situation, significant flooding, very heavy rainfall. The disaster has turned deadly. So at the moment, 50,000 people are preparing to leave their homes and the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is urging those people to heed those emergency evacuation orders. This is one of the biggest disaster operations. Two and a half thousand emergency personnel supported by hundreds of boats and other vehicles, a squadron of around a dozen

helicopters, some have been used in extremely dramatic and potentially perilous rescues of plucking people from the roofs of their homes, potentially life-saving interventions by the emergency authorities. They're also using drones as well to see people who are in need. Power is out in many areas. Towns have been inundated. Schools and roads have been closed as well.

The authorities say that these large storms are moving south and some of those emergency warnings have been put in place for parts of Sydney as well. So this does cover hundreds of kilometers of eastern Australia's coastline. Phil Mirsa. On Sunday, voters in Venezuela will go to the polls to elect governors and lawmakers, as well as officials, who will be responsible for administering the disputed region of Esquibo, which is rich in gold, diamonds and timber and has massive

oil deposits. The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, is adamant that Esquibo belongs to his country, but Mr Maduro's election plans have infuriated Guyana's president, as our Central America correspondent Will Grant reports. With just days to go to the controversial election, tensions are beginning to rise again between Guyana and Venezuela over the Esquivel region. President Irfan Ali underlined his government's position that Sunday's vote in Venezuela for governors and lawmakers, including for oil-rich Esquivel, is a threat. We are taking this very seriously, said President Ali.

The situation has ramped up considerably after a referendum by Venezuela over the sovereignty of the disputed region in late 2023. Amid a very low turnout, voters were asked five questions about Venezuela's claim and rejected the International Court of Justice's jurisdiction over the territory. Ahead of Sunday's vote, President Ali also urged the government of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, to abide by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is currently considering the territorial claim, and which earlier this month ordered Venezuela not to extend its legislative election to Esquivung.

"'We encourage the Venezuelan authorities to follow the orders of the ICJ, said President Ali, and to participate fully in the process and to respect the outcome. Venezuela's long-standing claim over Esquibo took on new impetus under President Maduro when ExxonMobil discovered large offshore oil deposits there in recent years. Will Grant. Performance enhancing drugs have plagued sport for years, with some athletes risking their health and reputations to cheat and win a medal. Now, the Enhanced Games wants to change that and actually bring doping out into the open. So what's the vision here? Dr Aaron D'Souza founded the competition.

I think for a few years there will be a world of natural sport run by the Olympics and a world of enhanced sport run by us. But ultimately world records matter. As human beings we're only interested in seeing the fastest humans. We want to see the very best of our species and we're not interested in the best amateur or the best pro, we're actually just interested in the best amateur, right, or the best pro, we're actually just interested in the best. Our reporter, Reagan Morris, told us more. It's essentially the Olympics on steroids. The organizers are saying that this is something so many athletes cheat, and then we find out years later that they were caught doping

or their medals went there, or somebody who's a silver medalist suspects that the gold medalist in fact was doping, they want to bring it out in the open. They want to do the performance enhancing games where steroids are common. You don't have to use doping drugs to compete, but I believe most people will. And they unveiled this at a resort on the Las Vegas Strip where they're going to hold their first event. It's going to be a swimming and sprinting and weightlifting are the first three

events and they pay big money. If you break a world record using steroids, you can make a million dollars. And as proof, they brought out a swimmer today who just broke the 50 meter freestyle record using enhancements. And it's Christian Golomev. He's a Greek swimmer who came in fifth in Paris. And now they're working with him and they say he broke the record by enhancing his natural capabilities, which weren't enough to win Colleen.

So the athletes, if they do choose to compete, they will be making potentially a lot of money, but they might have their Olympic dreams dashed. It's not clear if they can go back to other sporting events. The US Anti-Doping Agency has called this clown car, said it's not a real sport, and it's been vilified across sporting agencies and dismissed as not a good idea.

And Lord Coe, the World Athletic Association said if you do compete in these games and you dope you will be banned from other official events. Reagan Morris. A 2000 year old depiction of the Roman goddess of victory has been discovered in the north of England by a husband and wife who were volunteer archaeologists. The find, at Vindolanda, was made near Hadrian's Wall, which was built to guard the wild north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. Here's Rowan Bridge. Vindolanda has been described as the Pompeii of the north for the richness of the finds at the site which was once a Roman fort. Dillis Quinlan and her husband Jim were clearing

an area of rubble above the site's infantry barracks when they made their discovery. The stone relief is almost 20 inches tall and 12 inches wide. It's thought to show a sculpture of the Roman goddess of victory, part of a much larger relief. Dillis says she's particularly pleased to have found something relating to women. There have been lots of male things that have been coming out recently so it was really nice to be able to find something that related to a goddess. It would have been painted perhaps so they're looking to do some more research and analysis so

Jim and I await with a lot of anticipation to see if any further outcomes can come from the stone relief and what more it can tell us. The Trust that runs the site says there's an insatiable appetite from the public for archaeology. Applications to volunteer there fill up in about a minute. Rowan Bridge reporting. And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag

globalnewspod. This edition was produced by Judy Frankel and overseen by Stephanie Zachrisson. It was mixed by Rebecca Miller. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernadette Keough. Until next time, goodbye.