Netanyahu Says Ordered Enhanced Security at Israeli Missions Worldwide

An FBI agent on the scene where two people were shot and killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, USA, 22 May 2025. EPA/WILL OLIVER
An FBI agent on the scene where two people were shot and killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, USA, 22 May 2025. EPA/WILL OLIVER
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Netanyahu Says Ordered Enhanced Security at Israeli Missions Worldwide

An FBI agent on the scene where two people were shot and killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, USA, 22 May 2025. EPA/WILL OLIVER
An FBI agent on the scene where two people were shot and killed near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, USA, 22 May 2025. EPA/WILL OLIVER

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he has ordered enhanced security measures at Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide after a gunman who shouted "free Palestine" shot dead two embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

"I have instructed to enhance security arrangements at Israeli missions around the world and to increase protection for state representatives," he said.

"We are witnessing the terrible price of anti-Semitism and the wild incitement against the State of Israel."

Gunfire broke out late Wednesday outside the Capital Jewish Museum in the center of Washington as the venue held a social event for young professionals and diplomatic staff.

A video clip circulating on social media showed a young man in a jacket and white shirt shouting "free, free Palestine" as he was led away by police.

The victims were a young couple who planned to get married, according to the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was "devastated" by the fatal attack but said the two countries would "stand united in defense of our people.”



Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
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Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP

Israel on Sunday said it had launched a new national communications satellite on board a SpaceX rocket from the United States.

The Dror 1 satellite was blasted into orbit on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the foreign ministry said.

"This $200 million 'smartphone in space' will power Israel's strategic and civilian communications for 15 years," the ministry wrote on X.

Accompanying video footage showed the reusable, two-stage rocket lift off into the night sky. SpaceX said the launch happened at 1:04 am in Florida (0504 GMT Sunday).

IAI, which called the launch "a historic leap for Israeli space technology", said when it announced the project to develop and build Dror 1 that it was "the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel".

In September 2016, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test in Florida, destroying Israel's Amos-6 communications satellite, which was estimated to have cost between $200 and 300 million.