A community in Kansas gathered to celebrate the life of Israeli Embassy employee Sarah Milgrim Tuesday after she was fatally shot alongside her boyfriend, fellow Israeli Embassy employee Yaron Lischinsky, leaving the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington last week. 

Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring and was planning to propose to Milgrim before they were both killed, those close to the couple said. The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder; murder of foreign officials, a federal capital offense; and multiple gun-related counts. He could face the death penalty if convicted. 

The suspect shouted ‘Free Palestine’ while in police custody, and the fatal shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, according to the FBI. Lawmakers have condemned the violence as an act of antisemitism. 

Speaking with Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill, both Republican and Democratic senators condemned the fatal shooting. 

‘These two young people died senselessly. Israel’s engaging in a war for its very survival. My heart breaks for these two young people in the prime of their lives,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. 

Lischinsky was 30, and Milgrim was 26. 

‘There’s no room for violence in America,’ Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., told Fox News Digital. ‘I appreciate my colleague, Sen. Rosen, moving a resolution today that no colleagues objected to, bringing attention to antisemitism in America. Anytime anyone is targeted, we need to speak up, not just here, but around the world.’

Senators Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., last week on the Senate Floor condemned what they described as an ‘antisemitic attack’ and celebrated the passage of their bipartisan resolution that recognizes May as Jewish Heritage American Month. 

‘This is everybody’s worst nightmare that people would not only engage in antisemitic rhetoric, but act on it,’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said it ‘reminds us all how festering hate and prejudice leads to violence. We have to redouble our efforts to stop any form of prejudice or bigotry.’

‘Obviously, there’s been a rise in antisemitism over the last several years,’ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. 

Gillibrand is one of two Democratic senators representing New York, which is home to the largest Jewish population in the United States and also includes Columbia University, the elite Ivy League school in Manhattan that has been accused of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus. 

President Donald Trump has condemned the anti-Israel protests at elite universities, threatening to cut federal funding to institutions that do not condemn antisemitism and threatening to revoke international students’ visas. 

‘It is disgraceful that two young people with their whole lives in front of them can’t go to a reception in a public building in Washington, D.C., and be safe. It is criminal. It is disgraceful. It is intolerable, and we have to do everything we can to stop antisemitism in its tracks and protect people,’ Gillibrand added. 

In an unusual move for active federal court judges, four of them said in a Dispatch opinion piece Wednesday, ‘Societies that persecute Jews are societies that are sick and dying. Societies that allow the moral rot of Jew hatred to proliferate are societies on their way out of the pages of history.’

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon condemned what he called a ‘shakedown’ by the U.N. to prevent Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) from working with the new U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

While addressing the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Danon claimed that the world body was using ‘threats, intimidation and retaliation’ against NGOs that dared to defy the international body’s call to boycott GHF. The Israeli diplomat described the U.N.’s response to NGOs cooperating with GHF as ‘mafia-like.’

‘Without any discussion, without due process, the U.N. removed those NGOs from the shared aid database. That database is the central system for tracking aid deliveries into Gaza,’ Danon told the Security Council. ‘This is the gravest violation of the U.N.’s own principles. It is extortion of well-meaning NGOs that refuse to kiss the ring.’

In the same Security Council meeting, Acting U.S. Alternate Representative John Kelley urged the U.N. to work with GHF and Israel ‘to reach agreements on how to operationalize this system in a way that works for all.’ Kelley also emphasized the need to ensure that Hamas cannot benefit from any humanitarian aid distribution system that is established. 

On Wednesday, GHF said in a statement that it had opened another secure aid distribution site ‘without incident.’ The organization also addressed some claims about its operations. GHF said that, contrary to reports, no Palestinians have been questioned or detained while receiving aid. Additionally, GHF said that no Palestinians had been shot or killed while trying to get aid.

GHF disputes reports that its sites were overrun on Tuesday: ‘GHF anticipated that the [safe distribution sites] may experience pressure due to acute hunger and Hamas-imposed blockades, which create dangerous conditions outside the gates.

‘According to established protocol, for a brief moment the GHF team intentionally relaxed its security protocols to safeguard against crowd reactions to finally receiving food. No beneficiaries were injured, no lives were lost and all food available was distributed without interference. Order was restored without incident. As in all emergency response situations, particularly in conflict zones, this type of reaction from stressed beneficiary populations is expected and we remain prepared to continue providing lifesaving assistance should disruptions occur.

‘Unfortunately, there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail. Conditions remain very difficult and the lives of both Gazans and aid workers are at stake,’ GHF said in a statement.

The international community has not relented in its push against GHF.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher — who once called the plan behind GHF a ‘fig leaf for further violence and displacement’ of Palestinians in Gaza — has made his objections to the program clear. Fletcher made an appeal in a post on X to let the U.N. take control of aid distribution in Gaza.

‘We have the supplies, plan, will, and networks to deliver massive amounts of lifesaving aid to civilians in Gaza, in line with humanitarian principles, as the world is demanding,’ Fletcher wrote.

Earlier this month, Fletcher urged the international community not to ‘waste time’ with a new plan when the U.N. already had one in place.

On Wednesday, as Israel marked 600 days since the Oct. 7 massacre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) noted that ‘121 trucks belonging to the U.N. and the international community’ were allowed into the Gaza Strip. The IDF said that the trucks were carrying food and other aid.

 — A new intelligence report claims Iran is continuing with its active nuclear weapons program, which it says can be used to launch missiles over long distances. 

The startling intelligence gathering of Austrian officials contradicts the assessment of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).  Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate Intelligence Committee in March that the American intelligence community ‘continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.’

Austria’s version of the FBI — the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — wrote Monday in an intelligence report,’In order to assert and enforce its regional political power ambitions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is striving for comprehensive rearmament, with nuclear weapons to make the regime immune to attack and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Middle East and beyond.’

The Austrian domestic intelligence agency report added, ‘The Iranian nuclear weapons development program is well advanced, and Iran possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads over long distances.’

According to an intelligence document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, ‘Iran has developed sophisticated sanctions-evasion networks, which has benefited Russia.’ 

The Austrian intelligence findings could be an unwanted wrench in President Trump’s negotiation process to resolve the atomic crisis with Iran’s rulers because the data outlined in the report suggests the regime will not abandon its drive to secure a nuclear weapon.

In response to the Austrian intelligence, a White House official told Fox News Digital, ‘President Trump is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one.’

The danger of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism (and its illegal atomic weapons program) was cited 99 times in the 211-page report that covers pressing threats to Austria’s democracy. 

‘Vienna is home to one of the largest embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Europe, which disguises intelligence officers with diplomatic,’ the Austrian intelligence report noted.

‘Iranian intelligence services are familiar with developing and implementing circumvention strategies for the procurement of military equipment, proliferation-sensitive technologies, and materials for weapons of mass destruction,’ the Austrian intelligence agency said.

In 2021, a Belgium court convicted Asadollah Asadi, a former Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, for planning to blow up a 2018 opposition meeting of tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents held outside Paris. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as President Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, attended the event in France.

When asked about the differences in conclusions between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Austrian intelligence report, David Albright, a physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, ‘The ODNI report is stuck in the past, a remnant of the fallacious unclassified 2007 NIE [National Intelligence Estimate].

‘The Austrian report in general is similar to German and British assessments. Both governments, by the way, made clear to (the) U.S. IC [intelligence community] in 2007 that they thought the U.S. assessment was wrong that the Iranian nuclear weapons program ended in 2003.

‘The German assessment is from BND [Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service] station chief in D.C. at that time. The British info is from a senior British non-proliferation official I was having dinner with the day the 2007 NIE was made public. The German said the U.S. was misinterpreting data they all possessed.’ 

The Austrian intelligence findings that Tehran is working on an active atomic weapons program ‘seems clear enough,’ said Albright.

In 2023, Fox News Digital revealed a fresh batch of European intelligence reports showed that Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb.

European intelligence agencies have documented prior to 2015 and after the Iran nuclear deal( JCPOA) was agreed upon that Tehran continued efforts to illegally secure technology for its atomic, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction programs. 

The Austrian intelligence report noted that Iran provides weapons to the U.S.-designated terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as to Syrian militias.

A spokesperson for ODNI declined to comment. The U.S. State Department and U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.

President Donald Trump announced he will nominate Emil Bove, a Justice Department official and his former defense attorney, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a controversial choice that comes as the president continues to attack so-called ‘activist’ judges for blocking his agenda.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Bove as ‘SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone.’

‘He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,’ Trump added.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also praised his nomination on X. Emil has been ‘indispensable partner at the Department of Justice’ she said, and ‘has worked tirelessly from day one as we make America safe again.’

‘It is hard to imagine going to work without Emil, but our loss here at DOJ will be the country’s gain!’ she added.

There are two vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. If confirmed, Bove he would serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

Bove faces an uncertain path to confirmation, as Democrats have sharply criticized President Trump’s efforts to install loyalists atop the DOJ and FBI. His nomination is likely to spark a contentious confirmation battle, with Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats expected to use the process to press Bove under oath on some of the administration’s most controversial actions.

Ed Whelan, a conservative legal scholar and senior Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, voiced some of these concerns on social media Wednesday afternoon. 

‘Trump’s assurance that Emil Bove as a judge would do ‘anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ presents an odd and highly politicized understanding of the judicial role,’ he said on X. 

News of his nomination comes weeks after Trump installed Ed Martin, his controversial former nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to serve as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. The role gives Martin broad oversight, including leadership of the so-called ‘weaponization working group’ within the Justice Department formed under Trump.

Prior to his installation at the Justice Department, Bove spent nearly 10 years as a U.S. prosecutor for the Southern District of New York. He also defended Trump in two of his criminal trials following his first term in the White House.

In each of these roles and at DOJ, Bove’s hard-charging tactics have solidified his reputation as a fierce, loyal and, at times, aggressive leader. 

He has emerged as the man behind some of the Justice Department’s most contentious actions during Trump’s second term, prompting some officials to resign rather than carry out his marching orders. 

Shortly after taking office, Bove sent a memo threatening state and city officials with criminal charges or civil penalties if they failed to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration or slow-walked their orders on enforcement. 

It was also Bove who ordered federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York to file a motion to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. That order prompted a string of resignations from personnel, including acting U.S attorney for the section Danielle Sassoon, who chose to leave DOJ rather than drop the case.

Fox News also reported earlier this year that Bove was behind an exhaustive questionnaire sent to FBI agents detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigations. 

Questions ranged from agents’ participation in any grand jury subpoenas to whether the agents worked or responded to leads from another FBI field office or if they worked as a case agent for investigations.

Former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the probe or any retaliatory measures carried out as a result could have a chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices.

Ed Whelan, a conservative legal scholar and senior Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration, voiced some of these concerns on social media Wednesday afternoon. ‘Trump’s assurance that Emil Bove as a judge would do ‘anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ presents an odd and highly politicized understanding of the judicial role,’ he said on X.

The group cited in particular the order from then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office. 

President Donald Trump said he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy in the coming weeks ‘if necessary.’ 

The president’s comments come just after he condemned Russia’s recent large-scale strike against Ukraine. 

Russian forces launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight Sunday. The attack, which has been called the largest aerial attack of the war so far, targeted the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials said that at least 12 people were killed and dozens more were injured.

Though past strikes have proven more deadly, the attack is the largest-scale aerial assault of the war in terms of the number of weapons: 298 drones and 69 missiles were launched.

The president on Wednesday was asked if he believes Putin actually wants to end the war with Ukraine, to which Trump replied: ‘I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks.’ 

‘Within two weeks, we’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not,’ Trump told reporters at the Oval Office during a swearing-in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney. ‘And if he is, we will respond a little bit differently.’ 

Trump said his special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is ‘doing a phenomenal job’ and ‘dealing with them very strongly right now.’ 

‘They seem to want to do something,’ Trump said. 

But Trump again condemned Russia’s attack, saying he is ‘very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed — in what you would call a negotiation.’ 

‘I’m very disappointed by that,’ Trump said. ‘Very, very disappointing.’ 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed a willingness to sit down again with Trump and with Putin in Geneva. 

When asked if he was planning to sit down with Putin and Zelenskyy, Trump said he would be willing. 

‘Well, if it’s necessary… we have to, I think at this point. I wish you would have been that way a couple of months ago, but at this point, we’re working on President Putin, and we’ll see where we are,’ Trump said. ‘I think we’re doing fine, but we’ll see.’ 

Special Envoy Keith Kellogg is preparing for possible talks in Geneva, though it remains unclear when they will be held. Russia has yet to agree to the U.S.’s peace proposal, and its foreign ministry Tuesday claimed it was still working on its memorandum of terms. 

Russia has suggested a possible meeting in Istabul, Turkey. 

Meanwhile, the president again on Wednesday said: ‘I don’t like what’s happening. It’s one thing I’ll say — I don’t like when I see rockets being shot into cities. That’s no good. We’re not going to allow it.’

The president, over the weekend, blasted Putin, saying he is ‘killing a lot of people.’ 

‘I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,’ he said over the weekend. ‘I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.’ 

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy called for an international response to the attack.

‘The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,’ he wrote on Telegram. ‘Every such terrorist Russian strike is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.’

Trump expanded on his comments later Sunday, writing on Truth Social that Putin ‘has gone absolutely CRAZY!’ while also criticizing Zelenskyy.

‘I’ve always said that (Putin) wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!’ the social media post read. ‘Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.’

‘This is a War that would never have started if I were President,’ Trump concluded. ‘This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not ‘Trump’s,’ I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.’